


Spellbound

by Lilafly



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette friendship, Cat Sidhe, Cat!Adrien, Cat!Felix, Celtic Mythology AU, F/M, Faeries - Freeform, Friends to Lovers, Half-Reveal, I am sorry I hurt the kittens!, Ninette childhood friends, Shapeshifting, Slow Burn, Supernatural Elements, Twin AU, a lot of headcanons, finally the kids get their Miraculous it was ABOUT TIME!, not the painful kind I promise!, plays in modern day Paris, pre-Miraculous, prepare for faerie cruelties, starts one year before canon, there is plot I'm just horrible at pacing!, there will be more fluff to make up for it I promise!, wholesome friendship fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2019-05-26 10:14:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 29
Words: 144,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14998685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilafly/pseuds/Lilafly
Summary: Going out on Midsummer had been a very bad idea, Adrien was able to admit that much. He couldn’t regret running into a girl named Marinette though, who has helped him through the time where Faerie tried to call him with sweet songs.He really wanted to get to know her better, but there was a slight problem: he was aCat Sidheand if she found out about it, she could as well be proclaimed dead on the spot. But the loneliness he had seen in her eyes had been too familiar for him to just leave her alone. Keeping her ignorant of the presence of the fair folk, while he himself was one of them, proved to be a lot harder than he had expected it to be though.





	1. A Midsummer Night

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks a lot for clicking on this in the first place! I'm honoured, really! ;w;  
> This is my very first fanfiction ever and I hope you'll like it! :D After not finding enough ML fanfictions with Celtic Mythology in them, I just decided to write my own one. Since my main story (and hopefully to-be-novel) is all about Celtic Mythology too, I just decided to use the concepts I scrapped, for convenience's sake, in this piece of work. It's interesting to play with the "what if"s and alternatives and so far I really like what I came up with. c:  
> Please keep in mind that English is my second language, so if things sound off, that's probably the reason why. I let the chapters be beta-read by my native English friends though, so I hope they caught most of my embarrassing little errors. :'D
> 
> Otherwise, this AU is playing as close to canon as I can get it, just with the Mythology bit added. Due to that I, of course, have to change a few things. I also wanted to start it a year before Marinette and Adrien get their respective Miraculous because I think pre-Miraculous Marinette is a concept that is only very rarely explored in fanfiction writing. Took the "what if" one step further there when I let her meet Adrien one year before she met him in canon. What can I say? As adorable as these two are as a couple, I just _live_ for that Adrinette friendship. So, prepare for a lot of friendship fluff!
> 
> I have the first 7 chapters written so far and yet need to send them to my beta-reader. I hope to be able to update weekly on Thursdays, but I cannot promise anything!
> 
> PS: Today is Midsummer, so even though I haven't finished writing the fanfiction yet, I felt that it was appropriate to upload the first chapter today! :D
> 
> * * *
> 
> There are some words in this chapter that might need explaining, so let's get that out of the way first:
> 
>  _Tír na nÓg_ = The faerie world of eternal youth and spring. Also referred to as simply _Faerie_.  
>  _Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh_ = Celtic celebrations throughout the year. Will be mentioned in more detail later in the story, but the specifics are not important for this chapter yet.  
>  _Cat Sidhe (pronounced [shee])_ = A large black faerie cat with a white tuff at its front. It's the size of a medium dog.  
>  _of the Sidhe (pronounced [shee])_ = of the mounds. Sidhe are faerie mounds under which faeries live. The word is used both when referring to these mounds but also when referring to the fae folk.  
>  _widdershins_ = counter-clockwise (it's Scottish, so I don't know if everyone knows it. Just thought I'd add it as well)

He knew he shouldn’t be out. The obedient son in him bristled at the sheer thought of so blatantly going against his father’s wishes. However, in the end, it had been the cat in him that had won the inner conflict, for it was the cat that yearned for freedom the most. That’s why Adrien had shifted and jumped out the window before his brother had been able to get a hold of him. Even though he had been anything but deaf to Félix’s demands of ‘getting his furry ass back inside right that instant’, and the excessive cursing that followed when he hadn’t done so, it failed to deter him yet he still felt guilty. He knew that Félix was just worried about him and that with good reason.

It had been exactly half a year since their mother had disappeared without a trace on Midwinter. To go out on a night like this, when the pull of Faerie was at its strongest, was dangerous to those who could feel it. How easy would it be to just give in to the songs of times long passed and follow the voices that called him? How easy would it be to slip into Faerie, only to return eventually and find out that several hundred years had passed and all his loved ones were dead? Very easy. So easy, in fact, that his mother, who he had always considered an expert on all things fey, hadn’t been able to resist them after all.

Midsummer and Midwinter were no times for settled fae like them to wander around outside. It was a time to keep St. John’s wort and rowan sprigs, collected on Beltane, close and suffer through the unpleasant effects it had on them. Humans liked to use those herbs to keep fairies at bay, but Emilie Agreste had discovered that they were just as effective to keep fairies inside a house and prevent them from leaving. Since at home they were safe. The St. John’s wort, worn in their hair, would divert the magic of Faerie and not tempt them to follow it.

Yet, that had been when his mother had still been around and made sure to always have those specific herbs and trinkets at hand when the days, in which Faerie’s pull was most persistent, came around. Midsummer, Midwinter, Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane and Lughnasadh; those were all difficult times. Even with the herbs helping them, the pull of Tír na nÓg was strong and hard to resist. Emilie Agreste had been confident of nothing bad happening with the St. John’s wort flowers in her hair and the only short trip to a shop. She had been wrong. With her gone, Adrien and Félix had been left to fend for themselves at Imbolc, Beltane and eventually also on Midsummer.

Félix had always been the stronger-willed one of the two of them. He had managed to get them the needed herbs but that hadn’t been enough. Not when their father had forbidden them from shifting since their mother’s disappearance and kept them strictly away from the outside world as best as he could. Therefore, it had only been a question of time until one of the twins would snap and break the no-shifting rule. That it had been Adrien was not much of a surprise, but that it had been on Midsummer of all nights was an absolute disaster.

 

The pull was strong and the songs of olden times threw him in a daze. They were comforting like a lullaby and beckoned him closer. Not that there would be a certain place where one could cross into Tír na nÓg, the Faerie realm. It just happened when the anchor to the human realm was broken. Adrien desperately tried to concentrate. To find his anchor and return to the mansion as soon as possible. His hackles rose at the mere idea of going back. It had been far too long since he had wandered over the Parisian rooftops at night like this. The warm breeze that blew through his fur further soothed him, making him want to just follow the beautiful music and the voices he heard, even though he couldn’t understand the words of either.

 _Don’t give in!_ He told himself harshly and made a sharp turn, running counter-clockwise to get rid of the daze. That his cat side argued with his common sense was really not making things easier for him as he was torn about where to go. The figures he saw walking through the streets and sometimes even through the air, did not help him to feel rooted either. They were not real, or at least, they were not real at this moment. A long time ago they had been real and they had walked those very grounds. Long before the name ‘Paris’ had even been invented and before the city had been built. Back then, it had just been roads and small villages scattered around a land with another name and form. What he saw were just pictures of the past.

_Not real. They are not real. Ignore them. Run widdershins. Listen to what is real. Find an anchor!_

Nearby in space and slightly sideways in time, something like a human figure, just much taller and much more beautiful, strode by, laughing at a joke Adrien wished he didn’t understand. Also, the smell – _the smell!_ – was killing him. A smell like fresh-ploughed earth, just stronger and more alive, a smell of living magic full of eerie delight. A smell that was so distinctively _not_ Paris that it confused his senses and made him lose any sense of direction.

Adrien wanted to panic. Panic would mean stress and stress would mean that he could snap out of the daze for good. It would mean that the soothing songs and the sound of horns from a hunt that had once taken place in a forest that was long gone couldn’t get to him anymore, if only for just a short moment. He couldn’t though. The pull was strong, way stronger than he had ever witnessed it being.

 _Don’t slip! You can’t leave Félix alone!_ He practically yelled at himself inside his head. However, even the thought of his brother could not root him in the here and now for long. He needed something else. A feeling, a scent, a sound, anything! Just something that wasn’t Faerie. As of now, he was feeling, hearing, seeing and sensing things that shouldn’t wind their way into this reality. Things that belonged somewhere else and which he wanted to stay ignorant of like the humans were.

Green eyes frantically scanned the surroundings of Paris’ roof tops. Where was he? For some reason, he couldn’t find himself to care much about his location. He could have been just a street away from the mansion without being able to recognize anything. Did Faerie already have _that_ strong of a grip on him? Had it really come to the point that he couldn’t recognize his home anymore? He had spent so much time as a child on those very roof tops that he basically knew Paris better from up on them than from down on the streets.

When he took another step, he slipped. Not into Faerie but quite literally. Too deep in his musings of where and how and when, he had not noticed that the wall he was walking on had come to an end, making him fall. He braced himself for the impact of a fall from several stories, knowing that he would be fine. After all, he was no regular cat: He was a _Cat Sidhe_. A _faerie_ cat ‒ oh, how much he _despised_ the word! He could take a fall, even though it would still hurt.

It therefore surprised him when the fall ended shortly after it began and he tumbled on the tiles of what seemed to be a balcony. At least the scare the fall had given him was enough to snap him out of the daze at least a little. The heavenly scent of roses did the rest. Like all fairies, he was quite fond of the flowers. Just as rosemary and gorse drew fairies away, roses and bluebells drew them in. However, while roses were nice, would they be strong enough of an anchor? Could they chase away the smell of ancient magic that was drenching the city on this dreaded night? He could already feel the daze returning and the songs getting louder now that the shock was wearing off.

In the end, it was a voice that saved him from following the tempting calls again. A voice that managed to root him quite thoroughly.

“Hey kitty, are you alright?” It was sweet and female, soothing him in a way the songs of Faerie didn’t. For this was reality, not something illusory. Adrien would have jumped had he not still been in the slight daze of Faerie’s call. When he turned to its speaker, he was met with the most beautiful blue eyes he had ever seen. Could humans even have such beautiful eyes? Apparently, since she was definitely not of the _Sidhe_.

She held her hand out to him, probably for him to sniff like one would do when meeting a cat. He was so perplexed that his cat instincts took over and he did just that. The scent of vanilla, cinnamon and something sweet and floral greeted him. It was a wonderful scent that was much more tempting than the smell of magic.

That was when he realised that he had found an anchor. Thankful and endlessly relieved he nuzzled her still inviting palm and purred. On other days he would have run. Being close to humans only lead to disaster and he didn’t want to bring bad luck on this poor innocent girl but tonight was different. Tonight, he was just a lost cat that couldn’t find his way home and he was more than grateful to this human girl for saving him, even if she did not know that.

Why was she outside on her balcony at night in the first place? It probably was close to midnight already and she seemed about his age. Thirteen-year-old girls should be in bed at this hour. He placed his front paws on the side of the lounger she sat on and meowed, curious as to what she was doing.

All curiosity vanished however when her fingers suddenly stroked through his fur and Adrien all but _melted_  into the touch. It had been _so long_ since he had last been petted by someone in this form – the last time had been when his mother had still been around. He only noticed that he had jumped onto her lap when she giggled.

“You’re a cuddler then, huh?”

He was, even though he probably would never openly admit it. In that sense he was quite glad that the cat in him had decided to take over and succumb to the sensation of her pets. Otherwise he would have died of shame. She didn’t seem to mind but that was probably because she didn’t expect him to be able to understand her – she didn’t know that he knew of social boundaries and manners after all, that he was someone she could have crossed on the street once or twice. She would no doubt throw him off her balcony if she found out and then he’d be back to running from the songs.

The thought of that made him shudder and think about what his mother must have been through before she disappeared. The confusion and the dwindling will to _be_ was something he didn’t want to go through ever again if he could prevent it. Therefore, social norms, morals and fae laws be damned, he would stay with this girl until Midsummer would pass. If she would let him stay that was.

He didn’t notice that she continued doing whatever she was doing before he fell on her balcony though that was maybe due to the fact that she continued to pet him with her other hand. His purrs tuned out the scrape of a pencil on paper, though he noticed her occasional yawns. It was peaceful, to say the least. He knew he would only stay as long as Midsummer would last – that he would return home at sunrise in two days and never see her again – but something within him didn’t like the thought of leaving her.


	2. Dawn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Félix is a very worried kitten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the nice comments on the first chapter, I really didn't expect so many people to read and like it! ;w;  
> This week I'm giving you a Félix chapter, but don't worry, we'll continue with Adrien next week! ;D  
> I'm currently in a writer's block and in an exam phase, so I think I will keep the schedule with updates once a week. If I end up writing a lot more a lot quicker in the future, I might change it to two updates a week, we'll see. c:  
> Another kinda short chapter this week, but the next one will be longer, I promise!  
> \---------  
>  _St. John’s wort_ = A flowering plant that provides strong protection from fay magic.  
>  _Sluagh Sidhe_ = They are malicious spirits of the dead that fly in groups like flocks of birds and steal souls.  
>  _stealing children_ = Faeries often steal human children for various reasons and preferably do this on days like Beltane, Midsummer, Samhain or Midwinter

Félix had tried everything he could think of to get Adrien to come back when he had suddenly jumped out of the window. No coaxing and no threat had worked though and soon after, Adrien had vanished from sight. He knew being asleep would have been wise. Sleeping was safe, after all. He wouldn’t fall into Faerie while sleeping, especially not with the St. John’s wort in his hair and pockets. However, Félix could not stop worrying about his brother. For Adrien to make it back safe and sound was unlikely. Well, actually it was likely, but it was improbable that it would be the next morning when Midsummer was over. Adrien would return someday, probably, but when that time came around, Félix would be old or even dead. He had tried to make his peace with the logical conclusion that he would never see his brother again, but still stayed up all night waiting for a miracle to happen and him to return.

The sun had just risen, but that didn’t mean much. Sure, Midsummer was easier to handle at daytime, but that was only because there were more distractions around with which one could be rooted to the earthly realm. Traffic noise, the chatter of people, all those things were loose anchors. Things that were not missing, but significantly less present at night. A night Adrien had gone out at.

Félix pulled his hair when his thoughts returned to his brother. It wasn’t like he did not understand why Adrien did it. He, too, had grown skittish over the months, yearning to shift and wander around outside. It was a freeing thing to do. Their father though, human as he was, didn’t understand this longing. His understanding of the situation was that as long as they kept up their human guises, nothing bad would happen and things would be safe. Félix especially had tried many times to correct him, but his explanations fell on deaf ears. Gabriel Agreste would not be swayed, especially not when his wife – their mother – was mentioned.

A knocking stopped Félix in his pacing and whoever stood in front of the door didn’t bother to wait for a ‘come in’ before entering the huge room the twins shared. Unsurprisingly, it was Nathalie. Their father visited their room so rarely that it was basically a miracle when it happened. That day, however, was not one for miracles – at least not to him – so Félix hadn’t expected anyone else than his father’s assistant to begin with.

“Where is your brother?” she asked after taking a look through the room and noticing Adrien’s obvious absence. Félix frowned darkly.

“If you want him for an early morning photoshoot then don’t bother. None was scheduled for today, nor for tomorrow,” he said, not letting on to the fact that his brother was gone. As long as there was just a slight chance of Adrien returning safe and sound, Félix would not utter a word of his disappearance.

“Now there is,” Nathalie continued. “It is a substitute for the one from two days ago that had to be cancelled because it was cloudy.” While she had sounded like her usual objective self at first, it became apparent that she gradually grew uneasy under the glare Félix directed at her. Apart from their father she was the only human who knew what Félix and Adrien were. This was not due to them or their father, but because she had been a good friend of their mother who, at one point, hadn’t felt it necessary to keep what she was secret from her best friend anymore. That Nathalie’s loyalty has shifted from his now gone mother to his cold and distant father greatly displeased Félix while Adrien, ever the optimist, had voiced that it was nice that there was someone who could be there for him. Félix hadn’t bothered to point out that they could be as well, but that their father did not want that. He wanted humans close, not _Sidhe_. That was obvious, at least to Félix.

“Nathalie, it is Midsummer,” Félix said, knowing that the woman was very well familiar with what that meant.

“Your father is aware–” she said, but he cut her off.

“I don’t think he is. If he would be aware of just _how bad_ Midsummer is to us, he wouldn’t even have considered to schedule a photoshoot. He should know better after what happened to Mom last Midwinter.” It was a low blow and he immediately regretted saying it when he saw Nathalie’s eyes widen and then look down. He was angry at his father, not her. She wasn’t at fault for his irrational decisions, she just passed them on. And she was probably as devastated about their mother’s disappearance as they were, so tearing up barely healed wounds wasn’t fair.

“I’m sorry. But just tell him that it won’t happen,” he therefore added in a more placating tone.

Nathalie sighed. “He won’t be happy about this.”

“That’s his problem.” Félix honestly couldn’t care _less_ at this point if his father was happy or not. Adrien was _gone_ and not only had his father not noticed it, but he hadn’t even bothered to so much as check on them, even though it was Midsummer. He even had the audacity to schedule an outdoor photoshoot for this dangerous and much dreaded time. Obviously, he didn’t care about their wellbeing at all, so there was no point in caring about his wellbeing in return.

When Nathalie closed the door behind her, Félix resumed his previously interrupted pacing. He wanted to believe that Adrien was alright. That he had found an anchor and was trying to make his way back home. The logical part of him argued that it was too late already and that he should comfort himself with the knowledge that he was probably with their mother now.

Deep in his frantic thoughts as he was, Félix didn’t notice the lashing black tail behind him or the twitching cat ears on top of his head. It was a thing that happened sometimes when he was not paying attention, mostly while being worked up about something. It wasn’t like his human form was not _real_ , but some parts of it were an illusion. While his cat form was his _true_ form as a _Cat Sidhe_ , his more humanoid one was also one true form. He _was_ half human after all. But half human also meant only half of the human looks, so a few of his cat features still were very evident. He usually hid them with a glamour, but especially his tail and ears were easy to slip through it when he subconsciously thought about using them.

Cat eyes – another feature – narrowed when the door was opened again and none other than Gabriel Agreste stepped through. Félix barely kept himself from growling when he saw his father as he raised a sceptical eyebrow at his son and said in a cold and very disinterested voice: “I thought I made myself clear that I don’t want any of you to shift. And take those ridiculous flowers out of your hair.”

That was yet another thing about the man: Ever since his wife disappeared, he had deemed the herbs and flowers she had sworn on, to be useless. When Félix and Adrien had first asked him about getting some St. John’s wort for Imbolc, he had scoffed and said that it was sheer superstition and that they wouldn’t do anything at all. They had tried to argue, but Gabriel Agreste never admitted to being wrong. Or at least they had never witnessed him to do such a thing.

Félix acted as if he wouldn’t have heard the latter, but obediently let his glamour snap back over his ears and tail. He kept his eyes cat-like though, just to show some small sort of defiance.

“It’s Midsummer, father,” Félix said in an equally emotionless tone.

“Which is why it is important for you to be supervised for the entire day.”

“No, it is important for us to stay inside the house, keep the St. John’s wort at us at all times and hope for the days to pass quickly,” Felix said coldly and glared at his father. “And if you would really care about our safety, then you would have sent Nathalie here much earlier. Because Midsummer doesn’t start at sunrise or not even at midnight, but at _sunset_. The first night of Midsummer is already over and you didn’t even bother to check if we were alright,” he snarled and this time couldn’t hold back a hiss.

“Well, you clearly are fine, so I don’t see why that would have been necessary.”

“ _Fine_!? This is _anything_ but _fine_! Or do you _see_ Adrien anywhere!?” Félix half hissed, half yelled, now eventually having had enough of his father’s ignorance. Only a moment later did he realise what he had said and internally cursed himself for letting it slip. He actually hadn’t wanted to draw attention to Adrien’s rule-breaking, so now he had to find a way to word it like it wasn’t his brother’s fault. Which wouldn’t be hard since it technically wasn’t his fault at all.

Silence stretched out while the echo of Félix’s shout subsided. He glared daggers at his father while Gabriel just raised both eyebrows in surprise.

“He went out?” he eventually asked but didn’t sound concerned at all.

“No, the _Sluagh Sidhe_ took him,” Félix said, since it wasn’t necessarily a lie. Even now he could hear the distant cries of the spirits, as they beckoned him outside, away from the security of his home. They were after his soul, but they weren’t going to have it. Adrien had been too tempted by the songs to resist the outside and with that had thrown himself head-first into danger. Under normal circumstances, he never would have left, at least not without returning at most an hour later.

“This is not funny, son,” Gabriel said, apparently thinking that Félix was being sarcastic.

“No, it really isn’t. If you could _hear_ them you would understand!”

“I don’t hear them though. For all I know, you are pretending that there are some _Sidhe_ ”—he spat the word as if the mere mention of a being like that would be a personal insult “—going around that are out to steal children, just so Adrien has an excuse for disobeying my orders.”

Now that just took the cake.

“Mom _told_ you about the dangers of Midsummer and the fey songs from Tír na nÓg! You know damn well that they _are_ real and that there _are_ actually _Sidhe_ going around that are stealing children!” Félix yelled. It wasn’t often that he lost his composure, but there were just some things he couldn’t take with calm indifference like his father seemingly could. Especially not when his brother was most likely gone forever.

“Your mother has always been delusional–”

“Don’t you _dare_ blaming Mom for this! It’s _your_ fault that Adrien is gone! Just because you didn’t allow us to shift he snapped and could be tempted outside!”

“ _My_ fault?” his father scoffed. “You can’t seriously think that wandering around as a _cat_ is preferable to being human. I won’t tolerate such uncivilised behaviour from my own sons.”

“We are _not_ human,” Félix snarled and underlined the point by letting his glamour fall on purpose. His cat ears and tail were immediately back, but so were fangs and sharp claws. Things that were always there, but not open for the world to see. It was easy to confuse them as humans when no one could see what lay underneath the glamour, but Félix felt that his father needed a reminder of just that. Gabriel Agreste did not react at all though, as if his son would just throw a temper tantrum.

“Call Nathalie when Adrien returns,” he just said and then turned around to leave the room.

Félix was itching to give his father a slash with his claws, but he held himself back with deep and slow breaths. No reason to feed the fire after all. He significantly calmed after his father left the room, though the eerie distant songs returned, just as the question that had circled through Félix’s mind for hours already.

 _Would_ Adrien return?


	3. A Rainy Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we get back to Adrien and Marinette! With 3,662 words this chapter is still not _that_ long, but at least longer than the previous two were. I really like writing long chapters but I also think it's important to not cram in unimportant details just for the sake of making it longer. Therefore I'm always trying for an ideal length for these chapters so that I keep all the important parts and leave out all the unimportant things! :D  
>  Also made some text dividers for this story! Do you like them? ^w^  
> By the way, I don't always want to repeat myself with word explanations, so that we don't end up with endlessly long vocabulary parts in the notes here, but since this is just the third chapter I'm gonna also repeat the words mentioned in the notes of chapter 1 and 2, just in case you forgot their meaning :3  
> \---------  
>  _Cat Sidhe (pronounced [shee])_ = A large black faerie cat with a white tuft of fur on its chest.  
>  _Sidhe (pronounced [shee])_ = fae folk  
>  _Ghillie Dhu_ = A solitary faerie who inhabits certain birch thickets. His clothing is made of leaves and moss.  
>  _St. John’s wort_ = A flowering plant that provides strong protection from fay magic.

Adrien was used to waking up to either the sound of his alarm clock or Nathalie – and occasionally also Félix – calling his name. Being startled awake was something new to him. He had just been curled up in a warm, soft, comfortable space, minding his own business, when he had suddenly been assaulted with a shift of said space. The blanket that fell on top of him muffled his surprised yowl, making the instigator of this very uncomfortable wakeup-call none the wiser to his presence. By the time he had wiggled his way out of the cosy, soft and also heavy mass, the bed was already empty.

He decided to silently stretch and let his feline curiosity get the better of him before being lured back to the still warm covers and fall asleep again. If his memory served him right – Midsummer was still messing with his head after all – then he had followed the girl inside without her noticing. He then had just fallen asleep on the spot and that was where he was now. It seemed like she still hadn’t noticed that he was in her room, previously having been too tired to pay enough attention to the whereabouts of the black cat and now too busy with whatever had catapulted her out of bed.

Adrien looked over the railing down to the room below. Said girl was out of sight, but he could definitely still hear her while she seemed to furiously scribble something down on paper. She eventually let out a satisfied noise and then left her place from under the bed to walk over to her dresser. She pulled out a few clothes and regarded them with a critical eye before eventually deciding on a combination.

Taking that as his cue to retreat, Adrien disappeared from the bed’s railing and curled back up in the covers. He really hoped she didn’t mind him using her bed for a nap. Félix was probably going stir-crazy at this point, but it wasn’t something Adrien could do anything about. He could not just shift back and steal her phone to tell his brother that he was alright and safe. Especially not since that would put the girl into a connection with him. Who knows who else would be listening after all? Better not to further inconvenience her.

Besides, this was _nice_. Not having anywhere to go and not feeling like a prisoner in one’s own home. If he would call Félix, Nathalie would know and no doubt find a way to fetch him inconspicuously. He did not want to go though. This place was comfortable and it felt safe. As safe as one could feel in an unprotected house on Midsummer as a _Cat Sidhe_ , but at least a hundred times more comfortable. He did feel horrible about leaving Félix home alone to worry, but he hoped his brother would forgive him once he got back and explained everything.

The creak of a hatch made him perk his ears, but the only sound that followed it were the girl’s hurried footsteps as she went down a set of stairs. Content but also sad that she wouldn’t be in her room for some time, Adrien took full comfort in the softness that was her bed. While he could still hear the sweet songs that tried to lure him outside, he convinced himself that he was safe in this place. He would not wander outside again and he would eventually return home.

 

 

 

The next time Adrien was awoken, it was in a much more soothing and gentle way, though still a very unwelcome one. Distant echoes of woodwind pipes, their hollow melody so hard to resist, so unlike sweet birdsong reached his ears through a still closed window. The rain that heavily fell against it – a sound that was usually soothing to him – seemed to amplify it by a hundred. The tiny flutes, carved with obsidian knives from the bones of toads and played by silver-haired pipers with colourless eyes, were about to drive him crazy and worse; drive him outside.

He clasped his paws over his ears and let out a sorrowful mew, trying to break the spell he was falling under and tune out the music that was luring him away from this peaceful place. It was like being trapped in a nightmare that he wasn’t able to escape. Not until he felt the warm touch of a hand stroking his fur. Adrien relaxed into the sensation and welcomed it as the dreaded songs faded slowly and reality came back into focus.

“I didn’t even notice that you snuck inside with me last night,” a beautiful and clearly _real_ voice said. A voice he recognized as the girl that had saved him. The girl that _continued_ to save him without knowing it. His only answer to her comment was a purr as he arched into her hand.

“But I can’t really throw you out in the rain now, can I?” she sighed and got up. At the loss of contact Adrien opened his eyes and raised his head, watching her climb down the staircase to her room. He was on his feet in a second. Since staying in her bed proved to be dangerous as well, no matter how snug and comfortable it was, he needed to stay close to her if he truly wanted to anchor himself in reality.

As she sat down at what he now saw was her desk, he was already down the stairs and trotted up to her on noiseless paws. A silent ‘meow’ alerted her to his presence and she turned in her swivel chair to look at him with curiosity.

His own gaze was equally curious as he now, for the first time, _really_ looked at her. Her eyes still shone in a bluebell hue, just as he had seen the night before. A colour that was also found in the shine of her black hair, which was tied up in a bun. Single strands of hair that had fallen out of it blew in the wind of a desk fan. Her clothes were casual and suited for this warm, when also rainy, summer day. She had also taken off her shoes in the comfort of her home, sitting on her desk barefoot.

“You can stay and keep me company if you want, but I won’t be much fun,” the girl said. He didn’t mind in the slightest, since this was the first open invitation she had given him.

In the time it took him to wonder if she’d mind if he’d jump on her lap, the songs from unreality picked up again, making him shudder. Another sorrowful mew escaped him as he looked at the girl, unsure of what to do. It was not like she would ever find out about what or who he really was and therefore wouldn’t come into a situation where she’d be creeped out or embarrassed by it. Though Adrien would. He knew very damn well what he was and that it was anything but normal to jump onto strangers’ laps. But desperate times called for desperate measures, so his behaviour could be excused…right?

With a small leap, he was on the girl’s lap again, just like the night before. As happened previously, she giggled at it, finding it more cute than concerning. Adrien did not like to trick her like this, but if he wanted to stay safe he did not have much of a choice. This girl, as impossible as it may seem, anchored him in the real world in a way St John’s wort, thoughts of his brother or the smell of roses couldn’t. He wouldn’t question it and just take what he got.

Music started to play as she clicked on a playlist on her computer and Adrien could feel himself soaking in the peacefulness of it all. Rainy, cosy summer afternoons were a thing of his past and distant childhood. Before his mother had disappeared and even before he had started to model. It was something he hadn’t known he missed until now.

The silent music, the comfortable darkness of the room, only lit by the desk lamp, and the scrape of a pencil drew him into such a peaceful state that he started to purr again. He couldn’t even remember when he had last purred that much. Just why couldn’t his home be so warm? Why couldn’t he have such a small room with a balcony, a loft bed and just the few things he treasured and needed? A quiet space where he could spend the free time he almost didn’t have. The cat in him had always hated how big Félix’s and his room was, but he hadn’t really known why until he had seen how it could have been instead. Now he longed after such a place.

“No, that doesn’t work,” the girl suddenly muttered under her breath and erased a part she had just drawn.

Adrien raised his read curiously, but she didn’t look at him, still concentrated on her sketch while absentmindedly sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth.

The not-quite cat sat up to see what she was drawing and almost gasped. It was a summer dress and the design looked beautiful! Through his father and through modelling he knew a thing or two about clothes after all. If she designed that completely herself then… _wow_. She really had some talent, especially at her age. Sure, there were a few things that looked off here and there, but it was still impressive. In fact, he knew a few models who would probably love to wear it.

“I was up late last night trying to finish this, but it’s still not right. I hope I can sew it together before summer is over,” she said with a sigh and laid her pencil down to instead critically look at her drawing. Her view shifted to a few rough sketches that lay scattered across her desk.

“I tried to get some inspiration from the _Fête de la Musique_ earlier, but none of the designs really clicked with me. At least not for a summer dress.”

Adrien craned his neck to look at the sketches. There were seven of them and all were fantastic. Two of them would make fantastic pieces for a fall line and another would be perfect for a chilly summer evening. He saw what she meant with none of them being quite suited for a summer dress though.

At least now he knew why she had stormed out of her room in a hurry earlier and returned when it started to rain. The _Fête de la Musique_ , which unfortunately always was on Midsummer, was very varied and a great place for musicians to show their skill. When he’d been younger, his father had also gone there to get inspiration for designs. Adrien had always yearned to go as well, since all the music and dancing sounded _very_ tempting. As a faerie, he was very predisposed to such things. Really a shame that it was on a day where going outside and losing himself in a song or dance was incredibly dangerous.

When she noticed him staring she gave him a scratch behind the ears.

“I hope it stops raining soon so you can go back home.”

Adrien flattened his ears. He still really didn’t want to go home.

As if the universe had heard him, a lightning suddenly lit up the room, soon followed by a thunderclap that made his ears hurt.

_Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no!_

A thunderstorm to occur during Midsummer was about one of the worst things that could happen. As if the Solstice wouldn’t give _them_ enough energy already! Those of them that moved freely between the worlds, uncaring of how much time passed, were very awake and alert right now, on the lookout for mischief. Not even iron would be able to keep humans safe if _they_ were on the prowl.

Subconsciously Adrien pressed himself closer to Marinette, as if he could protect her somehow with his comparatively small feline body. She misunderstood the gesture.

“You’re probably hungry though…”

Only when she said it did he realise how hungry he really was. He hadn’t eaten anything since dinner and that hadn’t really been much to begin with. Midsummer had made him too nervous to eat much of what the chef had brought him. It was something he very much regretted now. Not that food actually mattered when her life might be in danger…but he also wasn’t one to deny a treat. With him there she was probably as safe as she could get anyway.

“Let’s see what cats can actually eat,” she suddenly said and typed something on her keyboard. Adrien watched with interest as she pulled up website after website, reading through food choices for cats. He had to admit that he had never consulted such websites himself so he also read with interest. Apparently, cats couldn’t taste sweet flavours – the poor things. He was lucky to not have that problem. In contrary even, he had quite the sweet tooth actually, which made the smell of sugary goods from downstairs even more tempting.

“Hmm, cooked meat seems like the safest and easiest thing from all that,” she mused after a while and then rolled back with her desk chair. Adrien jumped off her lap when she got up and meowed at her curiously.

“Wait here for a moment, I’ll be right back,” she said and disappeared downstairs through the hatch. The _Cat Sidhe_ trotted up to it to look downstairs. From what he could see there was a living area, probably the living room. He didn’t dare to go down further, even though he could only hear the girl and no one else moving around the floor. Just a minute or so later she appeared at the foot of the stairs again with a plate in one hand and a bowl in the other. On the plate were slices of pork sausage and even a little bit of cheese. He wiggled excitedly, happy that she had found something _edible_.

“Here you go, kitty.” As soon as the plate and bowl ‒ which contained water ‒ were placed on the ground, Adrien all but pounced on the food – of course not before silently thanking the animal who has died for its sacrifice like his mother had taught him to.

“Wow, guess you really _were_ hungry after all,” she giggled and closed the hatch behind her. “I hope this doesn’t come back to bite me though. After all, people say that when you feed a stray it’ll keep coming back,” she said as she walked back to her desk and sat down to continue her sketching. Adrien briefly considered if he should be offended by the term “stray” but then just shrugged it off. It wasn’t like he _belonged_ to anyone, so technically it was true.

“I can’t keep a cat here because of the bakery.” She sighed.

_A bakery? That explains why it smells so good here!_

 “Though I wouldn’t mind you visiting me again. It’s nice having company from time to time.”

He could hear at the sound of her voice and by how quietly she said it that there was more to the statement than she was letting on to. Maybe she wouldn’t have ever said it in front of a regular person in the first place. Adrien immediately felt bad since it felt like spying, but he also couldn’t help but agree with her. He didn’t like to be alone either.

While he yearned to tell her of his own loneliness and hardships, he realised that he couldn’t. The only reply he gave was yet another meow, followed by a quiet sigh. It probably was better that way anyway. Humans shouldn’t know about the fae. It was too dangerous for them to know since especially the Unseelie didn’t take kindly to having their existence known of. They preferred to live in the unknown and were determined to keep it that way.

Whenever they encountered a human who _knew_ … well, the ways of punishment varied, but it all resulted in the human not being to tell anyone about their knowledge anymore, in one way or another. Usually a very unkind way.

Death was a kind punishment, being driven to insanity was common, curses were likely too and being taken as a bride was rare but possible. From all those, the latter seemed like the favourable fate, but it was anything but. In Adrien’s opinion, it was the worst outcome of them all. His mother had preferred to not go into detail, but she had told Félix and him stories about human women being kidnapped by fae men. They would then be held like animals and only serve to please their capturer. Basically, they were slaves. Tortured slaves.

As the young _Sidhe_ looked over to the noirette, an unpleasant shiver ran down his spine. Under no circumstances would he wish such a fate upon anyone, much less a person who has treated him so kindly. He couldn’t be selfish and risk her safety like this. Making her think he was a cat and feeling guilty about it was definitely the lesser evil. Would she one day be unlucky and find out after all…then he would explain and hope she would understand. Although it surely wouldn’t come to that. That, would make sure of. He had kept this secret from every human he had ever encountered in his life so far. She wouldn’t be any different.

 

 

 

It turned out that the girl was very talkative while she was sketching and later on designing. At one point, another voice ‒ her mother ‒ had called up, making Adrien bolt up to the loft bed just in time for a Chinese woman to open the hatch and tell _Marinette_ that dinner would be ready in an hour. Once he had been sure that her mother was gone and wouldn’t come up again, he had descended from his hiding place and rubbed against the noirette’s legs with a purr while she draped fabrics over a mannequin.

So, her name was _Marinette_. Adrien preened at that knowledge, aware that a simple name didn’t mean as much to a human as it meant to him. _Sidhe_ were very protective of what was theirs and especially of their names. A name, after all, held great power. If one knew a _Sidhe_ ’s name, it could easily be misused to summon them at will or even enslave them. His mother had been beyond _furious_ when his father had so nonchalantly dropped his real name when he started modelling instead of thinking of a pseudonym. Only his middle name remained a secret to the public and he was determined for it to stay so.

While he, due to this incident, had started to treasure his own first name a little less, he still held an appreciation for names in general and Marinette’s name was especially pretty. It was unique and easily rolled off the tongue in an elegant way. It sounded like grace and poise, even though said name’s owner proved to be quite clumsy, stumbling over thin air at least three times while hopping around the mannequin. One time she even stumbled over him, making him let out a startled hiss, which in turn earned him a profuse apology. Usually he wouldn’t have let such an assault – on purpose or not – slide, but she was so genuinely sorry _and_ had even given him more food, so that staying mad at her was impossible. She could just be glad that he was half human because a real faerie wouldn’t have so easily forgiven her.

When she had eventually left her room to eat the aforementioned dinner, Adrien had hopped on her chaise lounge to take a nap. An uncomfortable nap that wasn’t really one because without her presence, his senses were going crazy again, especially since it was drawing closer to sunset. At one point he could have even sworn to have seen a faint flicker of a Ghillie Dhu, clothing made of leaves and moss, ghostly jumping _through_ the floor and perching on a birch tree that flickered in and out of Adrien’s vision. He’d see it clearly if he let himself fall further, but instead he directed his attention elsewhere.

Salvation came in form of his bluebell-eyed angel that ascended the stairs to her room. As soon as Marinette closed the hatch and sat down beside him to pet his fur, the Ghillie Dhu and the songs faded back into unreality. Adrien still didn’t know _how_ she did it, but he was thankful for her gift nonetheless. And not just the gift to anchor him in the earthly realm, but also her magic hands. Hands that could draw beautiful clothes. Hands that could make those visions a reality. Hands that comically went all over the place when she was animatedly telling a story. Hands that made him go to heaven with their gentle caress and drew a purr out of him.

He could get used to this. He could get used to Marinette and to just being a cat. To not be _Adrien Agreste_ , the famous young model and son of Gabriel Agreste. That, however, was not possible. No matter how nice the thought might be, he couldn’t just leave Félix alone. Marinette was the nicest person he had ever met, but he still dearly missed his brother. He was also worried. What if his twin had eventually followed him outside and gotten lost? No, Félix wasn’t that irrational. He would stay home and panic, probably drive Nathalie and their father crazy while doing so and bury himself in St. John’s wort out of paranoia. He would be fine.

…Right?


	4. Back Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien comes back home and faces the consequences of his actions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter really is one I'm not entirely sure about. My beta readers assured me that it's fine, but I still think there's something off about it, but can't see what exactly that is. It's probably the chapter I tinkered with the most and I hope you enjoy! ;w;

While the second night of Midsummer had not been as unbearable as the first, it still took quite a toll on Félix. It was probably also due to the reason that the day of Midsummer had been an absolute disaster in itself. He had tried to pay attention to Nathalie when she held a lecture about some historic figures, but his thoughts had either wandered to Adrien and how or more especially _where_ he was, or he has been distracted by the songs that drifted into his consciousness.

The mansion was big and quiet enough to not pose much of a barrier, as another house probably would have. Too much empty space without personality to create a distraction to the ghostly figures. Having apparitions of the past wander through the dining hall during his classes was a very good reason, in his opinion, to interrupt Nathalie and ask for a break. At least it was his father’s assistant and not his Chinese tutor, so his reasoning of “apparitions of the past wandering the halls” at least didn’t sound like he had lost his mind. Well, it probably still _sounded_ like it, but at least Nathalie knew that there was truth behind his words.

In a rare act of kindness, she had ended the lesson early and told the chef to bring Félix his lunch. The young _Sidhe,_ though, couldn’t sit still in the dining hall for another minute. As soon as Nathalie had left the room he had jumped up from his chair and ran to his father’s office. He knew that Gabriel would be there at this moment, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. There had been only one thought on his mind: _Tune. It. Out._

Luckily, his mother had found a very effective way to tune out Faerie in this house, though a slightly unconventional one. While she might have gotten away with it, Félix doubted that he would.

Still running from his sprint across the mansion, he had burst into his father’s office without a second thought. Gabriel Agreste hadn’t even had time to ask his son what the unruly interference was about before Félix had already typed in the code for the security system and activated it. As the metal ‒ iron! ‒ panels had slammed down in front of all possible entrances and exits to the building, the voices immediately had vanished and the young _Sidhe_ could breathe a sigh of relief.

Only for a short moment though, because another voice had immediately arisen and it had _not_ been happy.

“Félix! _What_ exactly is it that you’re doing?” his father had demanded coldly and gotten up from his chair to walk over, no doubt to lift the security lockdown again.

“ _Still_ saving myself from falling into Faerie!” Félix had snarled, more than fed up with his father’s ignorance towards the topic. Then again, who ever seriously listened to a thirteen-year-old?

“Again, with this ridiculous‒”

“If you want to get rid of Adrien and me, then you can just _tell_ us so! Do you _want_ us to end up like Mom?!”

Gabriel had pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Félix‒”

“We have _never_ gotten through Midsummer or Midwinter without Mom. I don’t even know how she did most of the things to shield us from Faerie. Adrien is already gone and I don’t know if he’ll even come back! _Please_ just let us keep the iron shutters down. If not around the whole mansion then just around Adrien’s and my room!”

“Enough with this nonsense,” his father had said and had pushed him aside to get to the control panel. With a simple code, the lockdown had ended, making Félix shiver immediately when the eerie feeling of unreality returned. “Get a hold of yourself and go back to your room. I don’t want any more interruptions out of childish reasons.”

That was how Félix had come to make himself a small sanctuary by emptying the lower part of a bookshelf, stacking the books in front of the hollow wooden space and throwing as much St John’s wort as he had inside it. A heated pillow, a blanket and a book about advanced Chinese had joined it soon. He then had shifted for the first time in half a year and climbed into the dark corner.

It hadn’t worked as well as the iron shutters, but the St. John’s wort as well as the small enclosed space did their job too. The difficult reading distracted him from Faerie while the warmth of the pillow and blanket comforted him, rooting him into reality together with the scent of the books he was surrounded by.

He had spent the entire day like that, only interrupted by Nathalie who had looked uncharacteristically worried after the chef had told her that he couldn’t find Félix. The warmed-up food was then placed in front of him without a comment about his shifted state. She had left shortly afterwards.

Then came the second night of Midsummer. It was easi _er_ but not _easy_ to handle. He tried to sleep multiple times, though with being as exhausted as he was, the “falling asleep” part was not the problem. Rather the circumstance of him waking up multiple times to sounds that shouldn’t exist in the earthly realm prevented him from finding rest. When the songs and voices finally became duller in the early morning hours, Félix managed to fall and stay asleep. He had even told Nathalie the evening before that he did not want to be woken up until it was at least eight in the morning. After all, he _really_ needed the rest. His priority was to get through Midsummer. As much as it pained him, he would have to mourn the loss of his brother later.

If Félix thought that the world was done with disrupting his sleep, then he was sorely mistaken. He was still curled up in his corner in the bookshelf when a loud thud from the bathroom made him blink his eyes open. He swiped at his phone with a paw, which told him that it was 06:13 AM. The noise – which had sounded like a bird that had flown against one of the bathroom windows – did not repeat itself, so Félix had half a mind to ignore it and go back to sleep. He would have done that, if it wouldn’t have been for _another_ noise to get his attention. This time, his _full_ attention.

“Smelt it, smelt it, _smelt_ it!” A _very_ familiar voice cursed, when also muffled through the closed window and door. Félix was up in an instant, dashing to the lower level. He reached the bathroom door at the same moment as he heard the sound of a window inside opening.

“–ringing iron bells and–” the voice continued to curse in a hiss but stopped when the bathroom door suddenly swung open with a bang. Félix, who had shifted back to open said door, had never been so glad to see his brother. Adrien didn’t even have time to give a startled yelp when he suddenly got wrapped in a tight hug.

“Don’t you _dare_ scare me like that again,” Félix said while clutching the black cat tightly to his chest.

“I missed you too, Fé…but could you please crush me a little less?” Adrien said, the last part a little breathlessly. Félix immediately loosened his death grip, making the feline breathe a sigh of relief.

“Usually I’d ask what in the netherworld you were thinking going out on _Midsummer night_ , but I already know the answer, so I won’t ask.”

Adrien shuddered at the reminder. “It was horrible, Félix!” he wailed. “I lost all sense of orientation and couldn’t find the way home, even though I was only one block away – the one with the park. I _almost_ slipped into Faerie that first night. _Almost!_ ”

“Almost?”

“I…uh,” Adrien stammered, suddenly growing insecure and writhing out of Félix’s arms in order to pace up and down the length of the bathroom. “I kind of fell on a girl’s balcony and she was _so_ nice, so I snuck into her room and spent Midsummer there. I know how dangerous it is and I know that I shouldn’t get that close to humans, but she had no idea that I was a _Sidhe_ and…and she was my anchor. She only needed to so much as _speak_ and I’d be less tempted to go outside and lose myself. It was really strange but also amazing. And she is so talented, she–”

“Stop,” Félix held up a hand, making his brother stop in his pacing. “Let me get this straight: You snuck into a human girl’s room and spent a _whole day_ there? Have you _lost_ your mind!?”

“What would you have done in my situation?!” Adrien shot back desperately. “I didn’t know how to get home and Midsummer was at its worst, so I couldn’t stay outside either! And she was my _anchor_ , Félix! Nothing helped, but then there she suddenly was and Faerie seemed unable to get to me. She’s very special.”

Félix let out a deep sigh and ran a hand over his face in exasperation. “Adrien, humans _always_ are anchors because they are the most sentient beings of the earthly realm. She’s not special, she’s just a random girl.”

Adrien seemed ready to argue about the girl being _nothing special_ , but he paused with flicking ears, turning his head to the still open bathroom door. Only a second later – his hearing was not as good in his human guise – Félix also heard it. Hurried steps that came down the hallway and drew closer to their room. The _click clack_ sound of heels gave the approaching person away as none other than Nathalie.

“Quick, shift!” Félix hissed at his brother while jumping up to close the window. “They know you were gone, but with Midsummer over you have no excuse to walk around in this form anymore.”

“You ratted me out?!” Adrien exclaimed in disbelief and looked _mostly_ human – he didn’t wear his glamour, making all the feline features visible to anyone who was looking – when Félix turned around to him again. He pulled at his hair while panicking further with his tail lashing furiously from side to side behind him, hitting Félix in the shins with every second whip. He winced, not at the lashes but at his brother’s words.

“If it counts for anything, it wasn’t on purpose. Father was just…unbearable. He acted as if everything was fine, and then it just slipped.”

Adrien just made a suffering whimper at the same moment as the sound of a door opening could be heard from the main room.

“Félix, are you alright? I saw an alert that a window in the bathroom was opened from the outside,” Nathalie said as she strode into the room, tablet in hand like always.

“I-it was just me, Nathalie,” Adrien said weakly as Félix and he exited the bathroom.

Both of the woman’s eyebrows shot up at the sight of him. “Adrien?” Her voice made it clear that she hadn’t expected him to come back at all, but there was also immense relief to be heard. She quickly reverted back to her default blank expression. “I will inform your father immediately.”

“Wait, Nathalie, could you–” Adrien tried, but the woman had already closed the door behind her. “–at least let me explain it.” The blond lamely finished. He then turned to his brother. “Father will be mad, right?”

Félix sighed. “Positively. Better pray to Danu and hope for the best. I’ll try to back you up, but after what he said yesterday it won’t be much good,” he said with a shrug and sat down on his bed. Adrien let himself fall beside him and buried his face in a pillow.

“It’s not really my fault, you know?”

“I know.”

“It just isn’t fair!” He lifted his head from the pillow again and looked at Félix. “Mom told him everything about Midsummer and other days in which the pull of Faerie is the strongest. She even told him _why_ and how to prevent crossing to Faerie on accident. Why didn’t he help us be safe from it? Why?”

Félix had more than one reply to that, but he feared that his brother would feel even worse about the whole ordeal if he started to believe that their father simply did not care about them. Because that was what it was. Maybe more but not less. The _Cat Sidhe_ could not sympathise with how his father could feel this way, but he felt like the reason for the neglect was much deeper than he originally suspected. Not caring about Adrien’s whereabouts at all proved that.

“I don’t know,” he therefore replied half-truthfully and scratched Adrien behind the ears, knowing it would calm him down. A comfortable silence settled upon them, only broken by a quiet purr from his brother.

Félix took the moment to reflect upon the last twenty-four hours in which Adrien had been missing. It had not ever been a question to him how much he loved his twin or how close the two of them were, but to be separated from him with the fear of never seeing him again had still hit him harder than he had ever expected it would. It had simply been unbearable. Having Adrien back now and trying to calm him down with pets, something that was so normal for them yet so sacred, felt like a miracle. No matter how mad he was about the circumstance of Adrien seeking shelter in a human girl’s room for Midsummer, he was still thankful for the stranger to have been an anchor to him and therefore saving him from Faerie. He really didn’t know what he would have done if he had lost his brother too.

“Do you think we could each have a smaller room?” Adrien asked after a few minutes, successfully breaking the silence and drawing Félix out of his thoughts. “There are enough unused guest rooms in the mansion. We could each take one and make them our own comfortable places.” His purr picked up when he thought about it.

“What gave you that idea?” Félix asked, quite liking the suggestion. While the little corner in the bookshelf had been anything but ideal, he did have to admit that a smaller space had definitely been more comfortable than their way too big room.

“Marinette – that’s the girl’s name – has a room like that. A small attic with windows all around and a lot of little things that are hers. It felt warm and welcome there, while this just feels…off, you know?”

He did, in fact, _know_. But he was also aware that Adrien’s dream of two smaller, separate rooms would probably stay a fantasy. After all, why would their father go through the struggle of renovating two rooms while they already had a – in his eyes – perfect one to share. The thought was still nice.

He was acutely aware of how _wrong_ all of it was. But then again, when had anything ever been _right_ in this house after his mother’s disappearance? It was wrong how the archway to the mansion was rebuilt, now made out of iron, denying both of the Agreste sons ‒ and every other fae for that matter ‒ entrance or departure unless it was specifically opened for them. It was wrong how they were forbidden to shift into their cat forms, diminishing any speck of hope they might have had about acceptance of their _otherness_ and making said otherness blatantly obvious to the point that they would feel ashamed about it on some days. It was wrong that they were kept away from the world, not only from humans but also the few other _Sidhe_ they knew. All those things blanched, however, in regards to the latest inequity bestowed upon them by Gabriel Agreste.

It had started with Nathalie returning to the boys’ room and telling Adrien that his father wanted to speak to him. When Félix had moved to follow, things had started to derail, because Nathalie had held up her hand and told him to wait in the room.

He would have listened to that order, had it not been for the fact that he had just gotten Adrien back after being painfully separated from him. The picture of him jumping out the window on Midsummer night and the fear of him not returning would forever be etched into his memory and feed his nightmares for several years to come. Disobedience or not, he would not let himself be separated from Adrien that soon again. Nathalie couldn’t do much about it anyway.

When they arrived at the office, it came with no surprise that their father was not pleased. Insubordination from both of his sons at once? Félix should have known that this could only end in a disaster. He _should_ have seen it coming and swallowed his fear of losing Adrien again as it was rather irrational to think he would not be coming back from a trip to their father’s office. Then again, it was not _that_ irrational. In any case, things could not be changed and Félix _had_ in fact been stubborn and irrational.

He now immensely regretted to have acted as he did, the bland and not quite like home smelling bed making the fallout of the whole thing even clearer. Cursing whatever god had found it righteous to make faeries sensitive to iron didn’t help his situation either, for he would still be trapped in a room with an iron lock. In a cruel twist of fate, Adrien’s wish of them each getting a guest room to make their own had come true. Or at least for Félix it had. Meanwhile, Adrien was locked in their room in a much more miserable state than Félix. His brother didn’t deserve this, especially not after what he has recently been through.

Adrien was sensitive, way more so than Félix and especially more than their father. It was something he had gotten from their mother and so far, it had not been much of a problem, with her always there as a parenting figure to back him up. With her gone though, he was at an obvious disadvantage. People like Gabriel could practically _smell_ weakness and so Adrien had been subjected to one soul-crushing punishment after the next. Like Félix though, he has also deemed this incident the last nail in the coffin.

That was how, when his father had talked about ridiculous excuses and fairy tales, referring to Adrien’s explanation of Midsummer ‒ he was smart enough to leave out the part where he hid in a girl’s bedroom ‒ Adrien had shifted and tried to explain to his father _why_ it was important for them to run around as cats every so often. It was a valiant effort and Adrien’s arguments were solid, but that did not matter much when faced with the unmovable mountain that was their father’s opinion on that topic.

Knowing of things and believing in things were two separate concepts, but sometimes they intertwined. Their father, however, had such a selective mind, only believing in the things that worked in his favour. He might not believe in St John’s wort lessening the pull of Faerie magic and otherwise keeping fey things at bay, but he did very much believe that his sons were not able to touch iron and that the sound of bells drove them crazy. When it came to _disciplining_ them, as he called it, he was very open to believe in those things with all the pros and none of the cons.

Thus, Adrien had been forced into a bell collar, which was supposed to drive the point home that if he wanted to walk around as a cat, then he could _stay_ one with all the discomfort it involved ‒ in the expectation it would dissuade him from shifting again in the future. Félix had of course immediately jumped to his brother’s rescue, trying to take the collar off. Before he could do so, however, their bodyguard had stepped in, seizing him by the shoulders while Nathalie carried the obviously distressed but oddly still Adrien out of the office. His father had then ordered for Félix to take over Adrien’s photoshoots for the next three days and to stay in one of the guest rooms ‒ equipped with an iron door knob of course ‒ so he wouldn’t be able to get out and take his brother’s collar off.

A few of his things had meanwhile been brought to him, among it his phone, so he had immediately made a call to Adrien. Their father might be able to prevent them from being in the same room, but he couldn’t prevent them from talking to each other. At least not so far.

“I can barely move without those damn bells around my neck making a sound,” Adrien winced miserably, making Félix feel even worse about the whole thing. He was beyond furious at their father, but he was still oddly helpless against him.

“Try to muffle the sound with pillows or a blanket, that might work.” Félix just wanted to climb out of the window and around the house to sneak into their room and rip the smelted thing off Adrien’s neck. His father had really gone too far this time. At least the bells were not made of iron, but he guessed that was because their father didn’t actually intend to physically hurt Adrien. Not really, at least. Of course, he has not taken into consideration what horrors the noise of the bells could do to a _Cat Sidhe_ ’s sensitive ears, so that they almost wished it had _just_ been iron.

Shuffling, the tinkling of bells, a low hiss, as well as curses were heard from the other end as his brother followed his suggestion. “It might help a little,” Adrien eventually said after a while.

“Good. Just try to hold out for a few days. Father will make me do your photoshoots. Officially it's so we are not behind schedule but I think it’s rather to keep me busy so I can’t find time to sneak into our room and take your collar off.”

Adrien sighed. “Probably. Don’t worry about me though. I’m fine…just very annoyed and my ears will probably start to hurt after a while. Might become a little _ear_ itating.”

He could basically _hear_ his brother’s grin. “That’s not funny, Adrien.”

“It’s a little. You have to admit it was a quite _bell_ -placed pun.”

“You’re just as bad as Mum,” Félix said in a fond voice that was rare for him.

“Thank you d _ear_ ly for the compliment.” The twins fell into a comfortable silence after that, knowing the other was just a few walls away.

“I have about an hour until I have to go to _your_ photoshoot, by the way,” Félix said after a few minutes while lying on his back on the bed and looking at the clock on the wall.

“Do you even know how to model?” Adrien teased.

“ _Please_. If you, dumbass, can do it then it can’t be that hard.”

“You just need to know how to strike a pose and not be stiff. So, good luck. You’re gonna need it.” This time the snicker on the other end was obvious.

“I’m sure I’ll manage just fine,” Félix said with an eye roll.

“I’ll pray to Danu again. Maybe this time my prayer will actually be heard. After all, last time I prayed for things to turn out fine, I ended up with a bell-collar.”

“Don’t you use sarcasm on me now. You always had bad luck and you know it. Comes with being a black cat.”

“Says the other black cat. Also, _rude_.”

“I’m not the one looking the part right now though.”

“Looks don’t turn bad luck around. Take it from the actual model.”

“Whatever you say.”

“Félix?”

“Hmm?”

“What do you think a girl likes as a gift?”


	5. Garden of Inspiration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette just wants to design in peace and get rid of her art block. ~~#mood~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we go, the chapter I have been looking forward to sharing with you guys! The first chapter with Marinette's point of view and the first conversation between her and Adrien! Of course, as first meetings between those two go, misunderstandings ensure! c:<  
> Misunderstandings that dabble both in Faerie- and cat behaviour and I love the opportunity to be able to combine the two! Finally, the tags of this story make sense XD

Almost a week had passed, but the black cat had not returned to Marinette’s balcony nor her room. She had initially expected it to come back for more food, but when that had not happened, the thought of the stray feline had slowly faded from her mind. Instead, she had preoccupied herself with way more important things: like finishing her summer dress or to avoid running into Chloé and accidentally offending the blonde with her mere existence.

Because the end of the school year drew near and only a week was left until the summer holidays would finally come around, there was not much homework or other things to do. All class tests had been written and graded, so the teachers didn’t find it necessary to torment them much further, apart from it being next to impossible to get the students to concentrate on what was taught in class to begin with. Marinette used the extra free time the lack of homework brought her to work relentlessly on her most recent creation. She had no one to impress but herself and maybe her parents, but it still would make her happy to walk around in this year’s summer dress.

It had become a tradition for her to make herself a new summer dress every year just when school was about to end and when summer break was about to start. It went back three years ago from when she had made her very first dress. It was far from perfect and her mother had helped her a lot, but it was still her own creation and she had never been prouder of anything before in her life. She had worn this self-made dress of hers as often as she could for the entire summer and from then on started to make even more clothes, mainly for herself. This year was her fourth year in a row, which would make the dress currently occupying her mannequin in a half-made state also the fourth summer dress.

When she got home from school that Friday she had immediately run up to her room to continue her work, only to find that she could not really get into it. Not even various songs could inspire her properly. It eventually got to the point where she withdrew from the mannequin with a sigh and looked out the window. It was a cloudless, sunny summer day and appropriately hot for the end of June. Maybe she would find inspiration in a change of scenery. It had worked for numerous art blocks already after all.

Her mind immediately went to the park by her house and its shady spots under the trees, but then she reasoned that it would probably be packed and therefore not very relaxing. When it came to inspiration though, then there was one place in Paris that had so far never failed her. Her not so secret garden of inspiration and at the same time one of the most popular tourist attractions. With a grin she packed her sketchbook and pencil case in a bag, grabbed a sun hat and went back downstairs.

“I’m out sketching!” she loudly announced as she went downstairs and passed her mother who was just sorting groceries into the fridge.

“Have fun, sweetie. But be back before dinner!” Sabine called after her.

“I will! Promise!” Marinette said before closing the door behind herself and walking down the stairs.

While the summer heat had still been pleasant in May or at the beginning of June, it had quickly developed into something that had most locals stay inside their shutter-cooled homes, especially around noon. It made it even easier to pick out the tourists from the people on the streets, which was a game Marinette quite enjoyed silently playing to pass time. The woman there with her child who was animatedly talking to a man ‒ her husband maybe? ‒ in what was probably Dutch? Definitely a tourist. The man rushing around with the stressed gaze people only wore when they were in a hurry? A local.

She continued to pick people out of crowds like this, silently categorizing them until she eventually arrived at the Palais de Chaillot. The view of the Eiffel tower was spectacular as always, drawing in crowds of tourists that eagerly took pictures of the famous construction. Marinette meanwhile sat down on a spot on the stairs where she knew she wouldn’t be in the way of most people. When she had started coming there three years ago, it had taken a few bad experiences of being bumped into ‒ consequently ruining whatever she was drawing ‒ or even run over ‒ prompting her to fall down the stairs one time ‒ to find the perfect spot.

After only a few minutes of watching her surroundings and the crowds ‒ mostly tourists, who were amusingly predictable ‒ inspiration struck and she started sketching. Another summer dress, some tops, a pair of shorts and various other creations were brought into existence by her pencil that afternoon. When she was in the middle of sketching a hat, she got the eerie feeling of being watched. It was not really an unusual thing to be seen at a popular place like this but being _seen_ and being _watched_ were two different sides of a coin. While she could ignore the former, the latter sent an unpleasant chill down her spine. It was something she had always been sensitive to, ever since she was little. Her mother assured her that it ran in the family, which was fairly little comfort.

Marinette knew that whenever someone was singled out and watched at a crowded public place, the watcher was most likely a criminal. Maybe a pocket thief who thought to be able to sneak up on her while she was concentrating on her drawings. A good plan in theory, but other than her pencils, sketchbook and an Imagine-R card, she didn’t have anything of worth on her.

Therefore, she turned around to catch a glimpse of whoever was plotting to rob her and was surprised when bright green, innocent-looking eyes stared back. It was a blond boy around her age who immediately looked away when she made eye-contact. He seemed nervous for some reason and stood next to a group of arguing adults who were carrying equipment for what looked to be a photoshoot. Again, nothing really unusual in the heart of Paris. Marinette’s view moved back to the blond and caught him staring, _again_. This time he held eye-contact and gave her a timid smile. Something pulled at the back of her mind, telling her she knew this boy from somewhere, but she couldn’t quite place where from.

Occupied with the question of when they could have met before ‒ was he going to her school? No, she would have remembered someone with such remarkable looks ‒ she didn’t notice his approach. Only a shy “hi” drew her out of her ponderings and made her look up. He looked even better from up close and the designer fangirl in her immediately noticed that all his clothes were from the _Gabriel_ brand.

_Wait, a photoshoot and a good-looking blond guy in designer clothes?_

Was this a photoshoot for _Gabriel_? Was the blond guy a model? Only then did it click in her mind. A blond _Gabriel_ model her age? No wonder she had had the feeling of having seen him before! That was Adrien Agreste, the son of her favourite designer Gabriel Agreste, who she had discovered shortly after starting to design her own clothes a few years back. How could she have not made the connection immediately?! She followed fashion magazines almost religiously after all and Adrien was in most of them.

“Hi,” she echoed with what she hoped was a pleasant smile and not an “oh my god, the son of my favourite fashion designer is talking to me, just don’t be weird!”-smile.

“What‒” he started but was immediately interrupted by a man with a thick Italian accent jerking him back.

“Shoo, little girl! Didn’t you hear me? Clear the area!” The man, who was probably a photographer judging by the camera hanging around his neck, said in an exasperated, impatient tone. It took Marinette a moment to understand the meaning of his words, but that was a moment too long since the photographer suddenly roughly pulled her up by the elbow.

“Hey!” she protested and bent down to pick up her drawing utensils. When she looked up again, the photographer was already going back to where everyone else was, dragging the young model with him. Adrien turned around to throw her an apologetic smile, before being ushered around the corner into a changing tent. Marinette sighed. So much for making a good first impression.

She picked up her bag and went down the stairs to the gardens. Shouts of “Where is Anaïs!?” or “Félix, help your brother!” followed her and slowly faded the further she got away from the scene. This wasn’t the first time she had retreated from her favourite place due to a sudden photoshoot, but never had anyone ever been so rude when asking her to leave. For a split second she had entertained the thought of maybe staying up there where she wouldn’t be in the way and watch the photoshoot as it went on but seeing how short-tempered the photographer seemed to be, he would surely not allow it. Not provoking any trouble was the safe way to go.

The Jardins du Trocadéro were packed with people since it was _that_ time in the afternoon where everyone just seemed to migrate to the gardens. Especially on a hot day, on which people sought shelter in the shade of the trees. Many tourists wandered the paths, enjoying the famously romantic setting of a Parisian park that was only slightly lost to Marinette due to being used to it. With the masses around, it took her a while to find a free bench in the shade to continue her sketching, so that it already neared five in the afternoon when she finally did. Only about an hour until she had to leave, but she wanted to make the most of her small inspiration-trip.

All around her, people went about their day, either enjoying an own spot to sit or just passing through, admiring the beauty of the gardens. The sound of them talking, laughing or even arguing all mixed together into a comfortable background noise that lulled her into a state of peace. The hour went by quicker than she thought, so that it already was half past six by the time she checked her phone again.

_Merde! I’ll be late!_

Marinette quickly packed her stuff and rushed off to the nearest Metro station. Or at least, that’s what she had been planning to do, hadn’t she run straight into someone. The person luckily didn’t topple over from the impact, which would have made the situation even more embarrassing than it already was. Instead she was caught by two strong arms and righted again.

“I’m sorry,” she quickly said with an embarrassed blush that immediately paled when she saw just _who_ she had almost tackled to the ground in her haste to get home.

“That should actually be my line. Or, at least sorry that my photographer was so rude earlier.”

In front of her stood Adrien Agreste. This was an absolute disaster! Just what did she do wrong to the world to deserve making a fool of herself in front of the same guy ‒ who also was not just _any_ guy ‒ _twice_ on the same day!?

“Err, yeah. Is he always like that?” Marinette asked at a loss on what else to say. Meanwhile she wished that the ground would just swallow her already.

“Yeah, when he’s in his diva mode,” he said with a roll of his eyes but then threw her a smile that made her heart beat faster. “I’m Adrien by the way.” He offered her his hand to shake and after a split second of hesitation she took it.

“Marinette,” she said with a genuine smile. Alright, a normal conversation, she could do this! She just needed to turn the situation around and act as if she hadn’t run into him in the first place. What was he doing in the Jardins du Trocadéro anyway? He didn’t just come out to the gardens to search for her and apologize, did he?

He scratched the back of his neck nervously. “Actually, I did.”

Wait, she had said that last part out loud!? Forget the ground swallowing her. Just let her jump into an active volcano right this instant! ...Okay, that might be a little _too_ dramatic, even for her.

“Oh?” she replied little intelligently.

“And to tell you that I really like your designs. I saw you drawing earlier and it looked really good. Though, I didn’t get the chance to tell you because Vincent suddenly showed up. Sorry again about that.”

“Thank you!” Marinette said and positively beamed. _The_ Adrien Agreste had just said that her designs looked _really good_! She had changed her mind and would jump into a volcano another day because that day was getting too good to suffer a sudden and dramatic death. “And you don’t have to apologize for it. It wasn’t your fault after all.”

“It was still rude and he probably won’t apologize for it, so I thought I should instead. And being able to compliment your designs is another plus.” He grinned and it looked like sunshine felt; sweet, warm and soft. It was the kind of smile one could not just easily fake and that was only captured on photo by coincidence when it happened. Most importantly, it was a smile that made Marinette’s legs go weak. Boys never smiled at her like that, Chloé made sure of that. If there even was the slightest sign that someone was showing interest in her, the blonde class bully found it to be her responsibility to spread nasty rumours or just generally embarrass Marinette by tripping her ‒ which, with her clumsiness, was not a hard thing to accomplish.

“Speaking of your designs,” he continued, bringing Marinette back to reality when he took something out from behind his back ‒ she hadn’t even noticed he was hiding something there. When he presented what he held in his left hand though, she could only raise a very sceptical eyebrow. Because there, offered to her, was a very dead brown chestnut leaf. She looked back and forth between it and Adrien, trying to find some sort of reference or waiting for the punch line of a joke, but she found neither.

“No matter what you say, I’m still sorry for what happened earlier, so let me make it up to you with something to match the beauty of your creations.” The joke ‒ because that was clearly what it was supposed to be ‒ was lost on her. She was about to give him the benefit of a doubt with his hopeful smile when she heard the sound of taunting laughter nearby.

Marinette looked past Adrien to see another blond standing nearby. He was not the one who laughed. Rather, he looked at them with pity in his eyes and then facepalmed. The laughter was close by but she couldn’t quite see anyone it belonged to. Whoever it was, they must be hiding somewhere and watching the scene. Coupled with the look of pity from the other boy, it suddenly clicked, making the situation become crystal-clear to her. She turned back to Adrien and gave him an unimpressed, angry glare.

“Alright, I fell for it. Congrats. Very funny, really,” she said coldly, which made Adrien’s smile fall, being replaced by a hurt look that she would have bought if it wasn’t for the still ongoing laughter coming from who knows where. Seeing her reaction, it even picked up, solidifying her suspicion.

“Your dedication is admirable, since apparently you came all the way out here just to _insult_ me and my work.” She walked around Adrien and down the path past the other blond as she said that. The metro would be there in about five minutes anyway, so she’d have to hurry to catch it, otherwise she’d have to wait for the next one.

“Marinette, wait! That wasn’t‒” Adrien said, but Marinette had had enough of whatever this game was. She was used to it from Chloé. Someone was being nice to her, seeming genuine, only to turn out to be bribed by the devil in blonde to pull a prank on her, which Chloé and Sabrina would then loudly laugh about. It was a weekly occurrence at this point, so that Marinette had become naturally distrustful to these kinds of situations. What had she expected to begin with? Adrien was a rich and famous model. She had never gotten along with the rich and famous, so why would he be an exception?

“Spare me of your excuses, will you? In case you haven’t noticed, I have a metro to catch,” Marinette said in an icy tone and threw Adrien a glare that could have killed a small rodent.

“But‒”

“Goodbye _Adrien Agreste_. It was _not_ a pleasure,” she said with a mock bow and the same glare. The addressed model just stood there frozen, still with his stupid leaf in hand and looking utterly confused, like he couldn’t comprehend what had just happened.

On her way home, she didn’t feel like people-watching to pass time. Instead, her head was filled with the emotional rollercoaster that had been the most recent encounter. Going from flustered and embarrassed to getting her hopes up, just for said hopes to get utterly _crushed_ had been quite the ride. Especially his stupid hurt look haunted her, as if he had genuinely not intended to compare her art with an ugly, dead leaf. Taken, she had been insulted much worse, but that had always been Chloé. This time it had been someone who had looked harmless and actually friendly.

She would have been delighted to go away from the encounter with a happy smile, content to have had a conversation with Adrien _Agreste_. Not that she would have gloated about it, she was not Chloé after all, but she still would have counted it as a personal victory and a highlight of her day. Having him compliment her drawings had been like a dream come true. Too bad he hadn’t meant any of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been to Paris once, but that was over 10 years ago and I was a stupid 12-year-old with no sense of culture, so I don't really remember that much. Most of the descriptions of places I do is based on either the show or what I can look at on google maps street view. As are the names of the things I include. If any of you know better and want to correct me, then please feel free to do so! I'd really like to write this story as accurate to the actual Parisian layout as possible!
> 
> Also, wondering about the laughter Marinette heard? You'll find out what that was in the next chapter! ;D


	6. The Cat Returns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> cat-Adrien is back to pay a certain someone a visit!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An early chapter this week because I'll be quite busy tomorrow!  
> As promised, here's the explanation of the laughter Marinette heard and Adrien is very _not_ amused.
> 
> * * *
> 
>  _Pixies_ = Are tiny faeries with pointed ears. They delight in causing inconveniences but are not usually mean-tempered.  
>  _"bite iron"_ = iron burns faeries (like acid burns). To, therefore, say "bite iron" to a faerie is quite the insult and the equivalent of "go to hell". So, our sunshine child is getting a little vulgar here :3  
>  _Loireag_ = Are water-faeries. They are sometimes helpful.  
>  _Apsara_ = Usually female, also known as sky-dancers. They bless humans at important stages in their lives, and are often seen at weddings. They live in fig trees and sometimes appear to scholars or scien-tists, seduce and exhaust them, making sure they don't venture into areas that the spirit world deems unfit.  
>  _halfling_ = someone who is half faerie, half human

Adrien wanted to _strangle_ the pixies that were currently on the flight from an enraged _Cat Sidhe_ while laughing merrily. Félix was not much help, just leaning against a nearby tree and shaking his head. The phrase “I told you so” was so heavily conveyed through his posture that he didn’t even need to say anything for Adrien to get it. The only _helpful_ thing his brother did was to remind him that they were in a public place and that he therefore shouldn’t chase beings that were invisible to most.

Adrien only listened after three minutes of hissing curses and utterly failing to catch even one of the naked child-like creatures with pointed ears.

“Bite iron,” he snarled at their retreating forms, which drew more merry laughter out of them before they disappeared in the distance. Running clawed hands through his hair in frustration, Adrien eventually turned around to look at Félix, expecting the “I told you so” to finally fall from his lips, but it didn’t.

“It’s better like this,” he said instead, confusing Adrien even further.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“She heard the pixies laugh, which means she has a closer connection to the fae than a normal person should have. You were just about to give her an enchanted gift that would have brought her even closer and you know once she can _see_ ‒”

“‒she cannot forget, I know.” Adrien sighed. It was his fault after all. She was closer to fey magic because he spent so much time with her on Midsummer of all nights, when a fae’s magic was at its strongest. Usually it wouldn’t have been much of a bother. After all, the models he worked with or Félix’s and his tutors didn’t ever give off the impression that they could as much as _sense_  anything weird. Marinette had though. She had noticed him staring at her earlier and she had heard the pixies laugh. Especially the latter was something she should not be able to perceive. Being in both Félix’s and his presence certainly had not helped the case, but that really couldn’t _just_ be it.

“It will get less with time, bringing her back to her normal, dulled human senses. As long as she stays away from faeries that is.” At the latter, Félix gave Adrien a very pointed look.

“I wasn’t planning on seeing her!” Adrien argued, a little too quickly to be believable. The deadpan look Félix gave him was all it took for him to give in. “Okay, I was. But would it really be such a bad thing?”

“I can write you a whole book with the reasons why, yes, it would be. In fact, books _have_ been written of all the things that can go wrong. You should read them one of these days.”

“But…I could protect her from the others. No faerie would dare to steal from another. Especially not from a _Cat Sidhe_.”

“She’s a person, not a possession, Adrien.”

“ _They_ don’t know that, nor do they care.” Silence befell them when Félix became thoughtful, both of them knowing the truth that lay behind the words. Adrien took the silence as a reason to pace, running his hands through his hair again which was hopelessly dishevelled at this point.

“We shouldn’t have this conversation here,” Félix eventually said. The pixies might have fled, but there was no telling if there wasn’t a Loireag hiding in the nearby pond or Apsaras in the trees. “Besides, the Gorilla is probably looking for us already.”

At last, Adrien saw reason. He threw one last suspicious look around before shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. His right hand felt the leaf that was in there, knowing what it really was. After all, he hadn’t wanted to insult Marinette. He had honestly meant it when he said he wanted to give her something as beautiful as her designs, but he had momentarily forgotten that she couldn’t know that his present was actually _not_ a dead leaf. In reality it was a pretty silver necklace with a simple star charm that would have taken its real form once she returned home with the seemingly worthless present. In hindsight, that might have been a horrible idea to begin with when he wanted to keep her away from the fae. A dead leaf turning into a necklace would be quite the giveaway to the existence of magic after all, let alone to his secret. Damn his impulsiveness! He couldn’t say that he preferred the alternative of her hating him though.

“She hates me, Félix!” he lamented, again reminded of the cruel reality of it.

“I don’t blame her. After all, you acted like an idiot back there.”

“Gee, thanks,” Adrien said sarcastically and shoved his brother’s shoulder.

 

 

Not _one_ of the fair folk was good. If they found a human, they made them their plaything until eventually losing interest and killing their unfortunate victim.

They liked things that were shiny and new, discarding things that were old and used…or leaving them behind cursed.

They were drawn to the innocent because the unpredictable ways in which they thought amused them. They were drawn to the guilty to give them back what they deserved. They were drawn to those that were in between two worlds like they were; teenagers for example, halfway to adulthood but still not severed from childhood.

They loved their little games and delighted in the humans’ naivety and misfortune.

Adrien knew all that, though there were certainly ones out there who knew it better than him. He had simply heard the stories, but those had been told to him often enough to be forever ingrained into his memory. Hundreds of stories told thousands of times. Whether his mother had meant for him to take them as a warning, an example or to let him know what not to do was not clear. For, as much as it pained him to admit, she had been one of _them_ too.

Faeries—a word they didn’t like to be called by—acted out of instinct, usually being nothing but very dangerous children from their mindset. _Aos_ _Sidhe_ were the same. The only difference there was between other faeries and the _Aos Sidhe_ was that the latter often had more human-like features. It went so far that an _Aos_ _Sidhe_ could be confused as a human if one didn’t know any better. They were also stronger than other fae, which made them royalty among the folk.

That didn’t mean that they didn’t have a childish way to their actions though. They, like all fair folk, easily got swayed by emotions that were much stronger than that of any human.

Where a human would have a simple disliking, a fair one would _loathe_. Where a human would like, a fair one would love with all their heart. Where a human was just protective, a fair one would be right out possessive and those that would harm what was _theirs_ needed to fear for their dear life.

Being half _Cat Sidhe_ —they belonged to the family of the many kinds of _Aos Sidhe_ —half human did not mean that Adrien and Félix felt less as any of those two halves. Instead they jumped back and forth between feeling _less_ and feeling _too much_. Especially the latter was a problem when they wanted—no, _needed_ —to act human.

It started with the simple annoyance of Marinette not accepting his gift. In light of the entire situation, it should not have been relevant, should even be completely understood as a rational action, but the _Cat Sidhe_ in Adrien couldn’t help but be irritated about it.

 _How_ dare _she not accept what I have generously offered her!_

Irritation that had grown into rage, which had dwindled as soon as Félix had reminded him of _why_ she had not accepted the gift.

Then came the absolute devastation over the fact that Marinette—sweet, kind Marinette— _hated_ him. At Tuesday it had gotten to the point where Félix explained to Nathalie that the photoshoot had to be cancelled because Adrien refused to shift back to human form and was in the process of tearing up their room in his quest to find a vent for his hopeless sadness. Nathalie, not wanting to get into trouble herself, simply told their father that Adrien was sick. Which wasn’t quite far from the truth.

By the point where Adrien eventually reached the stage of acceptance, he found yet a new thing to drive himself mad about.

_What if the Court gets her?_

The fear of the fair folk going after Marinette didn’t let him sleep at night and drove his make-up artist into desperation when she tried to conceal the bags under his eyes at the next photoshoot. He couldn’t think of anything else and kept drawing scenarios in his head of how they would torture the poor innocent girl and he would blame himself forever to have just let it happen.

A week had passed since the incident at the Trocadéro. A week which had almost driven Adrien insane by taking him through a rollercoaster of ups and downs emotion-wise and he could without a doubt in his mind say that he had had _enough_ of worrying. He just hoped a week was a sufficient amount of time to dispel the last bits of what had sharpened her senses to perceive the fey.

This was still a bad idea. This was a very bad idea. A horrible idea, in fact. Félix had been right after all; the more time he’d spend with Marinette, the closer she’d get to _see_. Hearing the fae was bad enough, even though that was hopefully gone at this point. If she’d also start to see them, there’d be no stopping them from tormenting her.

As he sat on the railing of her balcony and listened to the silent music that drifted up through the open sky light, he started to feel torn. She didn’t like _Adrien_ , that much had been established, but as far as he knew, she still liked the black cat that had snuck into her room. While it felt better to be in his cat form while seeing her, it still felt wrong. Like he was spying on her. At least this way he wouldn’t accidentally insult her.

Adrien was a lot more faerie in this form than he was human though, which came with its own set of obstacles. Apart from the fact that he would be unable to talk to her—out of safety reasons—he would also reek of magic to those that could perceive it. Unfortunately, _those_ were other fair folk and the last thing he wanted to do was to draw them near Marinette. He surely could protect her though, right? A _Cat Sidhe_ was a mighty ally to have, for most lesser faeries avoided him, scared that his bad luck would curse them.

The soothing song that drifted up from Marinette’s room stood in a stark contrast to his emotional situation. He was still swaying between approaching her and leaving her alone when he started paying more attention to the piece that was playing. He couldn’t say that he recognised it, but the soft tunes as well as the singer’s soothing voice spoke to him.

After hesitating for only another short moment, he jumped down from the banister and padded closer to the skylight. It was no secret that he had a weak spot for music. Like every fair one, he loved hearing songs and dancing to them; they filled him with life and brought him joy, no matter what the song was about. It therefore came as no surprise that, when he stayed with her during Midsummer, he started to get a liking for Marinette beyond just wanting to reward her kindness, simply because he had found out that they shared the same taste in music.

Adrien only noticed that he had dropped down on her bed when he heard a startled squeak. He jumped at how close it was and looked wide-eyed at Marinette who was now sitting up on her bed, staring at him. Last time she had listened to music she had sat at her desk, sketching, so he had assumed she would also do so this time. He hadn’t considered that she could also be curled up in her bed.

Immediate embarrassment washed over him. Now that he didn’t have Midsummer as an excuse, just dropping down on her bed and seeing her in her pyjamas seemed quite intimate and certainly like an invasion of privacy. He wouldn’t appreciate such a sudden visit much himself if their roles were reversed, so he seriously considered a hasty retreat.

Marinette recovered from her shock much faster than he did, breathing a sigh of relief when recognizing him.

“I was wondering when you’d come back, kitty,” she said with a smile. It felt good to see her smile again, even though he knew that _Adrien’s_ problems weren’t yet solved with it. Sometimes it was confusing to have more than one identity. He only gave a fleeting thought to the idea of retreating, before her charm and the peaceful music won him over.

Slowly and tentatively he approached her, testing if he was welcome despite the smile she was giving him. The music made him brave, so that he eventually curled up on the blanket next to Marinette. After a few moments, her fingers uncertainly sleeked through his fur and he relaxed into the sensation with a content purr. It had only been two weeks but he’d lie when he said he hadn’t missed this.

Her sweet smell of vanilla, cinnamon and what he now recognized as a mixture of roses and strawberry was unlike anything he knew from home where the smells were artificial and monotone like its people ‒ except Félix, but he also had his moments. Marinette, in comparison, smelled real and alive and just _welcome_. And that’s what her comfortable bed and the melodious music that slowly lulled him to sleep were too: Welcome.

At home he could try to recreate all of it, listen to his favourite songs and curl up in bed next to Félix to cuddle with him he read a book. While it also would be pretty comfortable it wouldn’t be quite the same as what Marinette could give him. Everything in her little attic room just felt _right_ and so did she with her gentle nature. It was warmth and love. Two things that had been missing from his home ever since Midwinter when his mother disappeared. No wonder he had been tempted to return to the noirette.

“Today was quite the mess,” she sighed after a while, waking Adrien up from the slumber he had accidentally but unregrettably fallen into.

“Chloé apparently thought it was necessary to make up for the two months ahead in which she can’t torment me. Good thing I wasn’t sketching, or she’d have definitely torn up my sketchbook. Lost quite a few good designs that way already.”

Wait, _Chloé_? As in Chloé _Bourgeois_? As in his childhood friend Chloé? As much as Adrien hated to admit it, he could see the halfling _princess_ being a bully, taken the way she liked to complain about everyone around her lately and disregard anyone that wasn’t of her status. Félix was adamant to not speak to her after what she had done to Sabrina and Adrien had grown wary of her antics too.

“It was just various insults and the beginnings of another round of nasty rumours this time, not that those will spread a lot during summer. And I got tripped a couple of times, but I don’t think that counts. After all, I also trip without Chloé’s input,” Marinette chuckled bitterly. Adrien, in that moment, vowed to have _words_ with a certain blonde the next time he got the opportunity. Vague words of course, since he couldn’t let Chloé know that he knew Marinette.

“Then I tried to get a hold of Nino and it got weird. Apparently, he got a new phone and a new number and forgot telling me, so I had to hunt him down to ask him what he was doing during summer break.” Marinette sighed and absentmindedly scratched the black cat behind the ears while she told the story, which was slightly distracting but _very_ welcome.

“I have his number now, but that doesn’t bring me much since it turns out he’s visiting family the whole summer and only gets back a week before school starts again.”

Marinette let out another sigh and fell back on her pillow, staring at the ceiling. “We used to be close friends once, you know? Then we got into separate classes in collège and everything just…changed. We kept hanging out like we always used to at first, but then those times became fewer with more time in between. Nowadays we’re almost like strangers. It’s weird.”

He nudged her hand with his head in silent comfort since she looked like she needed it. While he hadn’t gotten to this point with Chloé yet, he also felt like they were drifting apart. Just like Marinette and this _Nino_ had.

“It’s not like I don’t get along with the others in my class but I’m not quite on a friendship-base of relationship with any of them, so it would be weird to ask them to hang out.” She let out a humourless chuckle. “Now guess who’s gonna spend the entire two months of summer break alone. At least I have some projects to keep me occupied and I can help out my parents in the bakery.”

While she said it with a smile, he noticed that she didn’t feel any real joy while saying it. Her eyes didn’t have the glimmer they used to have when she was talking about something she was genuinely happy about. There was a sadness in these blue orbs that pulled at Adrien’s heartstrings, because if anyone knew the pain of loneliness, it was him.

Actually, he had just wanted to make sure she was okay and he was selfish enough to admit that he was yearning for her pets. It should have been just an innocent visit as his cat-self that maybe would have repeated itself once a fortnight or so, enough to keep him happy but not enough to put her into any danger...hopefully. But with this new knowledge he couldn’t just bring himself to abandon her.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like the kitty has a plan! >:3c
> 
> I have to admit that this is the first chapter that was not beta-read (my beta readers are all busy lately) so I hope there are not too many mistakes! I tried to catch as many as I could spot ;w;


	7. Left You a Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien _tries_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I have to admit that I have yet to write the next chapter. Many drafts have been scrapped so far and I honestly don't know if I'll be able to finish it before next week because I'm also going on vacation on Sunday. If I can make it though, then you'll either see the chapter on Wednesday or Friday next week because I'll be stuck in a car the whole day next Thursday.  
> PS: I managed to catch a cold in +30°C weather, so that's something I'm fighting right now too ;w;

With her latest creation finished and the weather being a gloomy grey with the promise of rain, Marinette didn’t feel like being up in her room. Her restlessness had drawn her down into the bakery where she had immediately taken over the cash register, giving her mother a well-deserved break.

Business was slow that day, so Marinette occupied herself with cleaning the counter and wiping the floor. A few of their regulars came in, giving her the orders she already knew by heart and asking how she was. The small talk was nice but lasted not long enough to really offer entertainment.

After a few hours she had cleaned everything in the bakery, rearranged the display cases to look as best as they could, and even counted the macarons for no other reason than giving herself something to do. Out of options, she took the notepad she and her parents used to write down orders and started doodling a simple outfit.

Emerged as she was in her thoughts of which colours might look best for the shirt, she did not notice the familiar sound of the front door opening and the _ding_ of the bell that announced a new customer. She did notice, however, a shadow falling over her and a smooth, melodious voice when someone started speaking to her.

“Taking a break with _style_ , I see.”

Marinette jumped, making notebook and pen drop down on the counter as she looked into the familiar green eyes of an _unfortunately_ familiar blond model. Her startled expression quickly made way to an unamused scowl.

“Normal strangers aren’t that persistent in annoying me. Especially not models. Just admit that Chloé paid you to play another prank on me and leave the bakery.”

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck and gave her a nervous smile.

“Actually, I haven’t talked to Chloé in a while. I didn’t even know you knew her.”

“She’s the mayor’s daughter and goes to the school that is right around the corner of this bakery. Hard not to know her,” Marinette deadpanned and folded her arms. “If you’re not buying something, leave.”

His look of horror was almost comical but was quickly replaced by a thoughtful expression.

“It really _would_ be rude to walk into such a fine establishment and not buy anything,” he mused and let his eyes wander over the selection of sugary goods. “What do you recommend?” He asked and suddenly had a charming smile on his face. His rapidly changing moods would eventually give her whiplash.

“That you pick something, pay for it and then leave,” Marinette replied with still folded arms, not willing to play whatever game he was trying to rope her into. His smile turned into a hurt frown and he managed to look like a kicked puppy.

She had planned to not give in into anything he said or did in case it was a trick, but there was something in his gaze that urged her to forgive him. It was not in the usual kind of sense when she’d see reason in a situation where she was in the wrong and was too stubborn to admit it, but in a sense of it just seeming like the right thing to do with no reason as to why given. It was downright irrational.

The sudden appearance of her mother not only snapped Marinette out of whatever trance she had been in but also managed to startle both teens.

“Now, now sweetie, don’t be rude to the customers,” Sabine said, making Marinette have a hard time to find her voice for a moment. Of course, her mother was right and she shouldn’t scare away customers by being rude, but _this_ guy was just…unnerving. She couldn’t get a clear read on him at all. At least with Chloé, her intentions were always clear as day. Adrien Agreste, though, remained a mystery. And then there was this weird urge to forgive him and just do whatever he asked.

_Creepy._

“So, what can I get you, dear?” Sabine said in her usual motherly tone, oblivious of her daughter’s goose bumps and regarded Adrien curiously.

 “I…uh…,” he stammered, looking around the display cases frantically.

 _Not so smooth now that my mother is here, huh? Serves you right_ , Marinette thought with a little bit of malicious joy.

“C-could you maybe recommend something? I…well, I’ve never been to a bakery before.”

Sabine gazed at him with a look of shock and kind reassurance while Marinette just looked at him like he was an idiot. Of all the excuses he could have thought of, that was probably the most ridiculous one. Her mother seemed to whole-heartedly believe him though and quickly rattled off her personal favourites, especially including those Marinette had either helped create or favoured.

Not wanting to stand this mild humiliation anymore, Marinette eventually retreated – not fled! – upstairs, leaving her mother and Adrien behind in the bakery. If she would have turned around, she would have seen the sad and almost longing look the model threw her way as she left.

 

 

It was on that day, that she got his first message. It was simple enough and was given to her by her mother as they set up the dinner table. A little piece of paper, the kind they wrote orders on, still with the faint lines from her doodle shining through, was all it really was. All it really should be. But it was the words on said paper that confused her. She had expected maybe another try to apologize or maybe even a mocking joke. Instead, it said the following:

 

 

> _Leaves tend to turn to gold, you know? And isn’t gold a beautiful thing? But golden leaves are short-lived and rare in summer, so what if one, once gold and now dead and brown, turned back to its former glory? Imagine something plain and even ugly to some, become beautiful once again._
> 
> _~Adrien_

 

What kind of message was that even supposed to be? If he tried to explain himself for the dead leaf from the other day, then this was quite the poetic approach and she wasn’t sure if she was buying it. After all, this could just be a ploy to lure her into a false sense of security to get her with yet another prank. She couldn’t be sure, so she stayed suspicious.

  
As soon as she got back to her room though, the little piece of paper landed on her pin board.

 

 

When she went down to eat breakfast the next day, her father handed her a note. At first, she thought it might be a shopping list or an address and that she should run errands ‒ which wasn’t uncommon ‒ but she was wrong.

“A boy came by early this morning when we had barely opened. Gave me all kinds of compliments for a chocolate croissant he bought yesterday and asked for you. I told him you were still asleep so he left you a note,” Tom said with a chuckle.

Marinette took it and quickly read it over, confused as to why Adrien ‒ because who else could it be ‒ would come to the bakery at six in the morning.

 

 

> _This bakery and your family’s kindness are a blessing. I can see where you got it from. Have a nice day!_
> 
> _~Adrien_

 

It sounded friendly, but not awfully chummy. He was aware that he was still walking on thin ice but she could not ignore the suspicion she still strongly harboured about the whole situation. Her father did not seem to have such worries and instead had interpreted ‒ because of course he had read it ‒ the message as the flirt that it really was _not_.

“An admirer?” he asked in a tone that would have been embarrassing if anyone outside of her family would be present. Marinette just huffed.

“Hardly.”

She then went about her day ‒ after adding the latest note to her pin board, she needed to collect evidence after all ‒ starting on a new project for which she tried to use the fabric scraps she had left. In her determination to keep herself busy as to not having to go down into the bakery, she ended up finishing her work at the end of the day.

Marinette had expected this to be the end of it. Adrien had come to the bakery, tried to apologize, failed and complimented her via a small note. What more business could the model have in her parents’ bakery?

It turned out that she underestimated him, for when she came downstairs the next morning, there was a folded note lying on the otherwise empty kitchen counter which had _“To Marinette”_ written on it. She immediately recognized the handwriting and proceeded to stare at the unassuming piece of paper for about half a minute before picking it up and reading what he had to tell her this time.

 

 

> _Do you ever sit outside in the sunshine while a warm wind is blowing and think about how nice it feels? It’s such a simple thing, but it always makes me happy. You know what is best? It doesn’t matter whether you’re rich or poor or whether it’s a person or an animal, you still feel the same gentle warmth. Isn’t that nice?_
> 
> _~Adrien_

 

While the last note could still be counted as a form of teasing compliment, if one was stubborn enough to interpret it that way, this note was anything but. It was unrelated to her but yet connected in a simple, generally understood way. Just why would he leave such a note for her? It sounded a little like a letter she might get from an Animal Crossing character. A thought that made her  
chuckle.

 

 

The days continued like that. Marinette would wake up to find a new note from Adrien waiting for her and then she would continue with her daily activities. For some reason she still did not know, he was visiting the bakery every morning at ungodly hours just to leave her these messages ‒ and to buy various pastries for himself, as her mother told her. He did not visit in the afternoons at all, which Marinette knew from the few times she had gone downstairs to work for a few hours.

With not much else to do than to continue this frankly monotonous way to spend her days, Adrien’s notes ended up becoming a highlight.

 

 

> _It must be nice to have a balcony. I like to watch the city from high up places too. It’s kind of freeing and I like to see how everything looks from another perspective. Do you like it too?_
> 
> _~Adrien_

 

Every morning she woke up, curious and even a little excited to see what he wrote her this time. The messages did not change in their general tone and simply told her a few things he liked while he inquired if she liked those things too.

 

> _Isn’t it sad that we can’t really see the stars here in Paris? I went out to the Camargue once for a photoshoot and we stayed overnight. It was beautiful. Sometimes I lie awake at night, listening to music, and imagine what it would look like if I could see the milky way here._
> 
> _~Adrien_

 

On the fifth day, she had to admit that it was oddly endearing.

 

 

> _Why is it so hard for some people to be nice? My brother says I’m too trusting and soft-hearted but I can’t help it. If hatred feeds hatred, then I like to believe kindness feeds kindness. Am I naïve to think you’re even reading these notes? Probably._
> 
> _~Adrien_

 

On the sixth day she had forgiven him for what happened at the Jardin du Trocadéro, now sure that it had simply been a misunderstanding. If he was a liar, then he was a very good one, but Marinette knew when to back down with her stubbornness. His notes were sweet and let her wanting to give him the benefit of a doubt. After all, he had not done anything truly malicious to her yet and he did go through the trouble of coming to the bakery every morning without fail.

 

 

> _Isn’t it wonderful how many different kinds of songs there are? The wind whispers songs, there is birdsong and then there are the songs not made from nature that are all so different but still appealing. How can I like things that are so very different? Like listening to Jagged Stone one minute and the next I switch to Owl City? Do you think that it is some sort of organized chaos? You as an artist probably know all about that, don’t you?_
> 
> _~Adrien_

 

When a week had passed, Marinette was sitting behind the counter again while her parents enjoyed a break. It was then, as she was sketching things in the sketchbook she had brought downstairs with her, when the bell announced a new customer. She looked up so see a blond boy about her age. Just what was it with good-looking blondes walking into her life lately?

“Good afternoon, what can I get for you?” she asked him while he looked through the display cases with a bored expression. She had the weirdest feeling that she knew him but couldn’t place where from. The feeling just got stronger when he looked at her with teal eyes.

“I’ll have a slice of that coffee cake, please,” he said while pointing at the cake in question.

“Will you be eating here or is this to go?”

“I’ll eat it here, thank you.”

Marinette just nodded and prepared the piece of cake on a plate.

“Can I also please get coffee with it?” he asked while sitting down on the table in the corner and pulling out a book from his bag.

“Sure, how would you like it?” she said as she walked around the counter and placed the cake on the table in front of him. He explained to her how he wanted his coffee in an uninterested tone and she rushed to the back where they kept a coffee machine. While she brewed the hot beverage, she watched him in a way that she hoped was inconspicuous. He just sat there, reading his book and looking like he didn’t care about the world around him. Just _where_ could she have met him before?

The question taunted her, as if his identity should be obvious, but there was something that was blocking her from making a connection.

He nodded his thanks when Marinette set down the cup of coffee in front of him and was about to go back to her place behind the counter. She would have done so, would there have been another customer, but with just him there, she couldn’t hold her curiosity back any longer.

“Excuse me, but do I know you from somewhere?” she asked, which made him close his book and look up.

“I believe you do. We have not been formally introduced at our last encounter, which might also have been better so. It was a painful ordeal to watch,” he said, which did not help Marinette much in placing where exactly she knew him from. She could think of several things she had done that had been painful to watch, both literally and metaphorically. Hopefully it was the latter, because otherwise it meant that she might have ran him over at some point. Either way, she cringed.

“Sorry about that then,” she said, even though she didn’t know exactly what she was apologizing for. The boy just waved her off.

“It was more second-hand embarrassment than anything else. My brother really is more socially inept than most people believe him to be.”

His…brother? He must have noticed her confusion, because he was quick to clarify.

“He honestly thought a _leaf_ would be an adequate gift for a girl. It’s terribly obvious that he doesn’t get out much.”

At last the penny dropped.

“You’re Adrien’s brother.” Marinette stated and could have hit herself for how clear it should have been. They didn’t look as alike as one would expect of twins and their mannerisms might be as different as day and night, but even back at the gardens Marinette had identified them as brothers at first glance. Just why hadn’t she seen it earlier?

“Unfortunately, yes,” he said and took a sip of his coffee.

“What are you doing here?” she could not help but ask. First Adrien was leaving her odd notes and now his brother showed up. That could not be unrelated.

“Enjoying a slice of cake and a cup of coffee while I’m on a break. Adrien spoke highly of this place, so I thought I could check it out.”

The connection was not nearly as mysterious as Marinette had hoped it to be. She sat down on the other chair on the table and fixed Adrien’s brother with a smile.

“He talks about my parents’ bakery?”

The blond rolled his eyes.

“Just ever since he first ordered something here,” he said and took a fork full of his coffee cake piece. His previously bored expression suddenly lit up in surprised appreciation. A moment of silence passed in which he seemed to think about his words.

“He might have had a point about the food being exceptional,” he eventually admitted, making Marinette beam ‒ especially since it had been her who had baked the coffee cake.

“Thank you. I’m glad you like it. What’s your name by the way? I don’t think you’ve told me.”

He lay his fork down on the plate and managed to somehow look regal while doing so.

“As I said previously, we have not been formally introduced yet. You can call me Félix and you must be Marinette.”

“Oh, you remembered,” Marinette said surprised, to which Félix snorted.

“Kind of hard to forget when Adrien can’t stop talking about you. That coffee was _really_  overdue.” To underline his point, he took a sip of said coffee, leaving Marinette to sit dumbfounded on the chair in front of him. Adrien could not stop talking about her? That was unexpected. She had thought that he had simply found a liking in the bakery after his first visit and then just left messages on a whim, writing down whatever came to mind for him at that moment. That he actually was thinking and even talking about her outside of that situation seemed surreal. It must be the guilt about the misunderstanding since she was pretty sure that she could not have left that big of an impression.

“Frankly, it’s hilarious,” Félix suddenly said with a barely-there smile ‒ the first smile Marinette had seen on his face at all. She blinked at him.

“What is?”

“You. I have never met anyone who could hold a grudge against Adrien or tell him off the way you did.” He chuckled, cutting off another piece of his cake and eating it. Marinette, meanwhile, visibly cringed when she was reminded of it.

“Yeah, I probably shouldn’t have been so harsh,” she admitted and suddenly developed an immense interest for the table’s surface.

“Don’t beat yourself up about it. You make mistakes, you learn from them, you do better next time.”

“I doubt there’ll be a _next time_ ,” Marinette said with a sigh. Félix commented that with a raised eyebrow, silently prompting her to elaborate.

“I mean, when we first met, he didn’t know that I was just a bakers’ daughter who drew in her free time due to a lack of other things to do. He’s just so persistent because he wants me to accept his apology and make a clean cut and—”

“Marinette,” Félix cut in and Marinette felt herself transfixed with his teal eyes which made an uncanny shiver run down her spine. “It is quite bold of you to assume such things after only exchanging a few sentences with my brother. Maybe you should leave his intentions up to him instead of jumping to assumptions, which, might I add, quite stray from the truth.”

In the time he took another sip from his coffee, Marinette tried to recollect herself. He was right, after all. Hadn’t ‘jumping to conclusions’ brought that whole mess upon her in the first place?

“What should I do now then? He’s your brother, so you know him better than I do.”

Félix looked at her as if she had just declared the earth was flat. “What to do?”, he asked, incredulity strong in his voice. With a sigh, he covered half his face with a hand and mumbled something about ‘oblivious idiots’.

“The next step should be obvious and I will not insult the intelligence I am sure you possess by telling you every little thing.” Before Marinette could decide if that had been a compliment or an insult, Félix had put a twenty-euro note on the table and stood up.

“You can keep the change,” he said and turned to leave before Marinette could protest. At the door he stopped and turned around to her again.

“And for the record: Adrien is just socially awkward, not some stuck-up rich kid. It is for my own wellbeing too when I say that you should give him a chance. Listening to his endless rambles of how you apparently hate him and how he can make it up to you, robs me of more sleep than I’d like to admit.”

“Wait!” Marinette called when he was about to go out the door. Félix stopped and turned around to her again with a raised eyebrow.

“If I’d write a message for Adrien in return, would you then please give it to him?”

A very faint smile appeared on his face. “I think that can be arranged.”

 

> _Do you like cats? I_ purr _sonally love them! Especially the black ones! ;3_
> 
> _~Adrien_


	8. Third Impressions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our enthusiastic, sheltered kitten is back and he takes a small tour through Paris with his new favourite human! :3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter. _THIS CHAPTER!_  
>  I swear to god, I did not intend to let you all wait so long for it, but I struggled with it for the longest time. Over two months to be exact and I'm _so glad_ to finally have it finished and beta-read so I can continue with my uploads. I really don't know if I will keep to a schedule from this point forth because university starts again for me soon, but I will try to update as often as I can. If that will be once a week or once a month remains to be seen. The next chapter is finished already and I'm writing on chapter 10 right now, so I hope to be able to keep to a weekly schedule for the moment. 
> 
> Also, to kind of make up for the long wait you had to endure, this chapter is about twice as long as the regular chapter is with over 8k words! This was not on purpose, it just happened to be this way. And by the looks of it, that trend will continue for the following chapters as well! C:
> 
> * * *
> 
> _Unseelie Court_ = The faerie court for the wicked, the unlucky and those that despise humans.  
>  _Selkie_ = Seals that can transform into humans to come onto land. They do this by removing their skins which they leave behind rocks. When their skin is stolen, they automatically belong to the one who has stolen it.  
>  _glamour_ = A sort of magic disguise.  
>  _Kelpie_ = A shapeshifting water horse that lures unsuspecting wanderers close with its beauty. If it is touched, one will stick to its skin and it will proceed to drag its victim underwater and drown them.

The building that housed the bakery at the Place de Vosges was humble and lacked the somewhat hoary charm the older, more dignified houses of Paris had. There were no beautiful art carvings nor sculptures in its stonework, and neither did it have elegant window frames to indicate that the occupants were in no way in a dire need of money. It was these edifices that spoke of wealth and history that drew in faeries these days and made them want to stay. After all, the rich promised offerings and the generous space guaranteed work for those that preferred to stay invisible. These buildings however, were also a place for the wicked and mischievous of their folk to play their games, for the lack of kindness and fairness often went hand in hand with those monied and therefore deserving of punishment.

Adrien has never thought much about blessings and curses, nor about inflicting them on those who deserved them. Neither had he paid the prosperous households of Paris much mind, unless he had to attend a party for his father’s business. If that was not the case, then it usually was some event held by the Bourgeois family, to which he had always been invited as a member of the Unseelie court. Having lived the life of the rich and famous for as long as he could remember, the thought of seeing yet more of its luxuries utterly exhausted him.

Much to the appalment of people like Chloé, he had always been more interested in the regular population of Paris. Simple, but good families who lived their lives without having to constantly be at someone’s beck and call. It was a life that spoke of hard work and well-deserved riches instead of having deceitfully gained them. It was a fair life; one which he had never been allowed to live. Instead, he had always observed it from afar up on the rooftops, looking through windows into the family lives in the apartments.

It was exactly such a life that the house of the Dupain-Chengs spoke of. Their bakery was a humble business and the small part he had seen of their home was also nothing to boast with. This, however, did not mean that it was worth less than the homes of the rich. The monetary value might be less on a piece of paper, but the love that could be felt in every corner and crevice of this place made it much more valuable in Adrien’s eyes than his own mansion home, the Bourgeois hotel or any other ridiculously expensive building in Paris could ever be.

He was therefore understandably nervous when he stood in front of the bakery he had grown so fond of in the last week; just out of the view from the store front windows, watching the steady come and go of the customers. Adrien gulped and readjusted his sunglasses, hoping they and his purposefully unkempt hair would be enough to keep people from immediately recognizing him. The last thing he needed was any unwanted attention, which had been part of the reason why he had always visited very early in the morning and not in the afternoon.

Yet there he was, in front of the bakery, in the afternoon, on a Saturday. The plan that had seemed like a good idea the previous evening started to sound as stupid as Félix has dubbed it. To be exact, he had said that the plan was “positively senseless and guaranteed to end in some sort of disaster.”

 

“Did you forget what happened two weeks ago?” Felix had said the previous evening with a thoroughly unimpressed stare. Adrien, on the other hand, had just waved it off and reread what was written on the small piece of note paper in terribly cute handwriting.

 

> _Thanks for the small messages. They were sweet and odd in a good way. Your brother visited today and made me realise that I might have been too harsh on our first meeting. ~~But seriously, a~~_ ~~leaf _!?_~~
> 
> _If you really want to make it up to me though, then we can hang sometime. Only if you want to of course._
> 
> _~Marinette_
> 
> _PS: Black cats are cute, but the pun was unnecessary._

 

“Adrien!” The shout had jolted him out of his thoughts and made him turn back to Félix who had been impatiently tapping his foot.

“I know what happened, but that was cat-me! If my human form would be a problem then the entire _Gabriel_ staff would be affected by now. It’ll be _fine_!”

“Well, whatever happens will be on you. I’ll play along with that reckless plan of yours this time, but don’t expect me to do it again.”

“You’re making it sound as if posing as me would be difficult. We’re twins and we’re faeries, so this should be a piece of cake. Speaking of, I _might_ just bring back a slice of coffee cake for you if this works out. Don’t think I didn’t hear you muttering something about it being delicious earlier,” Adrien had retorted with a wide, toothy grin. Félix’s only response had been a frown.

 

The plan was simple: Félix would pretend to be Adrien for the day and work off his unfairly full schedule while Adrien would sneak away and make the most of the free time Félix had scheduled. Félix’s warning was not one to be taken lightly though and it now ghosted through Adrien’s head like a terrifying mantra.

_As soon as she can_ see _, she can never forget._

He would just have to prevent her from getting there. Keeping her away from four-leaved clover and convincing her to wear something made from iron—even something as small as a ring would do—would probably do the trick. Not yet though. This was their first meeting after previously disastrous encounters, so he needed to play it safe, not be weird and just try to convince her that he was in fact a nice person. That was easier said than done though for someone like him who had a head filled with songs and dreams and who possessed one of the worst impulse controls a person could possibly have.

 

“With how often you come to visit, one would think that you’d know where the door is by now.”

Adrien jumped and could barely withhold a startled hiss as he whirled around to whoever had snuck up behind him. The familiar scent reached his nose before he had even turned around and was therefore only mildly surprised to see Marinette standing behind him, her arms folded in front of her chest and an amused smile stretching her lips.

“I…uh…how did you know it was me?” Adrien said after a few unsuccessful tries to start a sentence.

“A blond that wears designer clothing and loiters around in front of my family’s bakery? Kind of narrows down the possible suspects.”

Adrien pouted, disappointed that his cover had so easily been blown. He really should invest in some off the rack or knock-off clothing next time he tried to be inconspicuous and probably give his father a heart attack in the process—if he was ever caught that was. That it had been Marinette and not some random stranger that had recognized him was a small relief at least.

“Why did you sneak up on me?” The question was out before he even processed that he had spoken it out aloud and immediately cringed. He hadn’t even said ‘hello’ to her yet, as was the polite thing to do. His mother would not have been happy with him. To his relief Marinette did not seem to be bothered by it and just shrugged.

“I had to do a delivery and saw you from way down the street when I came back. Speaking of, my parents are busy with a big order and I have to deliver another small one. So, see you,” she said and stepped around him to get back into the bakery.

Adrien had not consciously wanted to grab her arm as she walked past, but the small panic upon her impending leave made it an almost instinctive move. He wanted to keep her close, though just grabbing her was probably not the wisest choice. His arm flinched back from her almost immediately as if he’d been stung and moved to the back of his neck while he threw Marinette a sheepish smile.

“Sorry, uh…I just…uh.” _Very articulate, Agreste._ Marinette just raised an eyebrow at his antics and he could feel that she was growing impatient.

“Can I maybe come with you? Deliver the order I mean! Just if that’s okay with you of course…” he rambled, eventually becoming silent and shuffled in discomfort. This was awkward. Things had been so easy when he had been a cat and they had just peacefully hung out together. Why did everything have to be so much more complicated as a human?

“It’s in Montparnasse, so it’ll take at least an hour. Are you sure you have time for that?”

“Sure! Félix is helping me today, so I get to have his free time. Pros of having a twin,” Adrien said with a mischievous grin.

“So, you switched schedules?” Marinette asked as she opened the bakery door and stepped in, eagerly followed by Adrien.

“You could say that. It’s more like switching names for a day, really.”

“Wait, he’s pretending to be you?”

“Yep.”

“And no one will notice?”

At that, Adrien cackled. “You’d be surprised what a little change of hair style and some acting can do. This is by far not the first time we’ve done this and gotten away with it.”

“If you’ll get away with it or not will probably show once you get home, won’t it?” Marinette asked as she turned around to him. “Now, wait here for a second, I’ll be right back,” she said, leaving him standing in the middle of the bakery’s front room. Sabine was standing at the counter, taking care of customers and didn’t appear to have seen him yet. Marinette returned from the back with a box in her hands just moments later and gave her mother a kiss on the cheek as she left.

“Be careful, sweetie,” Sabine called after her and then immediately turned her attention back to the customers.

“Always, _Maman_!” Marinette replied as she walked out the door, closely followed by Adrien.

“Alright, lead the way!” he said giddily, hopefully diverting from the fact that he wouldn’t be able to find the way himself. His mental map of Paris was quite detailed, but that was from a much higher ground than the one they were walking on and from his current perspective, he barely recognized anything. It was quite embarrassing, but he was willing to learn. Starting with the way to the Montparnasse quarters.

It was odd, in a way, to walk the streets as himself and not as a cat. In this form, the subtle magic in the air was a constant whisper, telling him he did not belong in daylight and not among people. He was used to ignoring it when he was outside most of the time for whatever activities his schedule dictated or recently also for the short trips to the bakery in the early mornings.

This situation, on the other hand was different. Instead of feeling more like a guest or a spectator, he now was an active participant. Adrien was not made for tasks like delivering pastries or talking with human girls about random things he hoped to be normal. The universe told him to take the easy way, enchant the girl so she would like what he said without him having to worry about it. It was advice he actively refused to take since this would have been the faerie way to do things. He was no faerie though. Not right now, not to Marinette. She saw him as a human, when also a strange one and he would do anything to ensure that it would stay that way.

 

“So, the notes. What was that all about?” Marinette suddenly asked, startling Adrien out of his thoughts. He tilted his head. Had his intention not been obvious? Or was he misjudging human customs again? He had seen teenagers passing notes with half-cryptic, half-poetic messages on them countless times in movies and had just assumed it to be a normal thing. Apparently, it was not.

“I just tried to apologize for the misunderstanding and show you that I’m not…uh…”

“A jerk?” Marinette supplied helpfully, a quite stronger word than he would have chosen.

“Yeah,” Adrien said awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck. This was not going as well as he had hoped it would.

“For the record, I’m not mad at you anymore. If you want the ultimate chance to prove yourself though, then this is it.”

“No pressure then,” Adrien murmured.

 

 

“You’re weird,” Marinette said with a small laugh as they exited the Metro at Montparnasse. At first, they had not been talking much, both feeling quite awkward with the situation while Adrien also silently begged the universe to _shut up_. The awkward silence had ended at the Metro station with Adrien’s excitement, which, as he had quickly learned, was out of the ordinary. People in Paris were used to taking the Metro, yet Adrien, who was used to be driven everywhere, had never even _seen_  one of the underground trains.

Marinette’s mood had shifted to obvious amusement at his childlike antics, like his enthusiastic exclamation of ‘The doors all open at the same time! That looks so cool!’ or ‘There are seats in here!’ once they had boarded the train. Only a few minutes later, when he had caught the confused looks from the other passengers, had he realised that he was probably acting very much out of the ordinary. He had flushed in embarrassment and immediately apologized to Marinette, who had just snorted and said that this was probably the most enthusiastic she had every seen anyone being about taking the Metro.

His excitement, while being noticeably more contained after that realisation, did not die down completely. At each stop he had something to point out—the weird names of some of them, the design choices, silly-looking advertisements and also people that looked hilarious to his eyes—that sometimes even managed to make Marinette laugh. This led to both of them being in high spirits as they eventually had to get off half an hour later.

“I’d rather call it ‘sheltered’ or ‘isolated’, but sure, let’s go with ‘weird’. It doesn’t seem to be too much of a bad thing after all,” Adrien said and threw her a playful grin.

“So, you really don’t get out much, huh?”

“Other than on photoshoots and other things my schedule dictates you mean? Barely. Which is why I like sneaking out when I get the opportunity. The key is to not get caught.”

“Well, as a quite known model of one of the biggest fashion brands of Paris, I can imagine that the ‘not getting caught’-thing often becomes a problem. Don’t you get recognized?”

Adrien thought for a bit before replying, since he couldn’t very well tell her that the chances of a black cat being recognized as Adrien Agreste were quite slim.

“Sometimes. You’d be surprised how few people on the streets actually care about fashion brands and their models. Sure, there are certain circles who would immediately recognize me, but you don’t usually meet those randomly on the street.”

“And if you do happen to meet them, your plans of escape are foiled,” Marinette remarked.

“Not if you have the right disguise,” Adrien said with a grin and tapped his sunglasses.

“Yet I immediately recognized you. If you want to do this more often, you’re gonna need to do better. At least wear something that’s not designer and maybe also a hat, or even a wig.” Marinette then fixed him with a calculating look. “And colours that don’t stand out much. Maybe something brown, especially in autumn,” she muttered thoughtfully and quickly seemed lost in planning the perfect escape outfit for him. Adrien could just grin blissfully at that. This was the Marinette he had grown so fond of all these weeks ago, when she had quietly sat at her desk, fully immersed in designing, barely registering anything around her.

The latter part held true even now when she suddenly tripped on a loose tile and started fighting for balance. Adrien shifted the bakery box with the order they had to deliver into one hand and caught one of Marinette’s flailing arms before she could fall.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Bruised pride, but I’m fine otherwise,” she said with a sigh.

Adrien gave a small laugh at that. “Did planning my future escape outfit really distract you that much?”

“A little maybe,” she admitted with a blush she tried to hide by turning her head away and started walking again, this time in a faster pace.

“Can you tell me about it?”

“What?”

“The outfit you were planning. I’m curious.” If he would have looked in a mirror he would have probably seen another one of his wide grins on his face, the kind that his father despised and always told Adrien to _get rid of_. ‘What a ridiculous thing to ask of a cat,’ his mother had always said fondly. He quickly stopped thinking about it. Memories of his mother always made him sad and with that irritable, which was something he really did not need at this moment.

Marinette pondered his request for a bit. “Well, for the summer I would say a very simple t-shirt, maybe black, grey or a not very saturated green. Couple that with jeans or shorts in blue or another neutral colour. Basically, something that blends in, doesn’t _look_ like a disguise and lets peoples’ view slide over you.

“For colder weather, a hoodie might be best. Those are always very comfortable too, so it’s basically a win-win. Winter will be the easiest because you can just hide your face beneath a scarf and wear a hat.”

She looked him up and down as if to mentally check if her imagined outfits would work and then nodded.

“Looks like we have to go shopping then,” Adrien mused.

“Wait, _we_?”

“Of course! Or did you think I’d get far without your style advice?”

“You’re the model, so you tell me. _Would_ you be able to pick your own outfit or not?” The teasing lilt in her voice excited him probably more than was appropriate. Though friendly teasing meant that she liked him and that meant that he was making progress! One way or another at least.

 “Depends on who you’re asking. _I_ think that I _am_ capable of picking my own outfits, thank you very much. My father thinks the opposite and my brother doesn’t care. Meanwhile, _you_ think that I am a disaster when it comes to picking something inconspicuous, so clearly, I am in a desperate need of help,” Adrien said with an exasperated sigh.

In truth, he was absolutely _horrible_ when it came to picking something fashionable. His father had always fussed with his self-chosen outfits, saying that he had no sense of colour- or style-combination. In his defence, he had not tried to combine a masterpiece each time he got dressed. Instead, he simply chose what was comfortable and what he liked best. Picking things on a whim was his method of throwing together an outfit, which probably was partly due to his faerie heritage.

Consequences did not matter to faeries after all, since they lived for the moment and only did how they pleased. Adrien was very glad that this trait so far only seemed to heavily manifest in him when it came to making clothing choices and not, say, human interaction. At least he hoped that this was the case. It was quite hard to tell sometimes with his lack of knowledge about social clues and the like.

Marinette snorted.

“A model that doesn’t know how to properly dress himself. What has the world come to?!” she said in an overdramatic and mocking fashion.

“Clearly we’re all doomed,” Adrien replied, keeping up the act. Marinette laughed.

“Alright then. Let’s prevent the end of the world by getting you a perfect outfit or two.”

Adrien was about to throw back a witty remark, maybe even a pun—she had not much liked the pun in his last note, but they seemed to be on a friendlier base now, so surely it would not hurt trying—but an eerie feeling and a sharp whisper of magic caught his attention instead. It was a difficult task to not freeze on the spot, grab Marinette’s hand and bolt into the opposite direction, but he accomplished to continue walking. Something must have shown his shift of mood though, because the grin on Marinette’s face died and she looked at him in concern.

“Are you okay?” she asked, to which the answer would be a clear and capitalised ‘ _NO’_. Adrien was _not_ okay because there, just ten metres in front of them, looking at a shop window in disappointment, was a faerie. A selkie to be exact. A selkie who had her skin stolen and was enslaved to the Bourgeois family, to be very precise. Sabrina.

If she would see Adrien with a human, she would tell Chloé and if _Chloé_ knew that he had been seeing a human outside of the basic necessities such as modelling, then Marinette was not going to live for very long. He prayed to whatever kind gods would hear him to have mercy on his poor soul and let things turn out alright when he discreetly grabbed Marinette’s arm for a second time that day and pulled her into the next alley.

She was about to say something but Adrien put a finger on his lips, motioning her to be quiet.

“I just saw someone I know and she’s a blabbermouth. If she tells anyone that she saw me here, I’m done for,” he hastily explained as quietly as he could. It basically wasn’t a lie. He just conveniently kept silent about the fact that Marinette would be even more done for if that happened.

The Court did not know forgiveness. The mere thought of what would happen to members that went against its beliefs and rules could fuel his nightmares for weeks. What would happen to humans that were wrapped up in such crimes was too horrible to imagine.

Marinette’s eyes lit up in understanding and she nodded. A few tense seconds went by until they eventually saw the redhead walk by the alley without noticing either of them. At least it seemed that way. The air was quite thick with magic around these parts—why actually?—and Adrien’s own magic was luckily subtle, especially since he was in his less magical human form at the moment, so Sabrina hopefully did not notice the slight change in the air, busy as she was. They waited a little longer to be sure she was gone until they stepped out of the alley again.

Adrien breathed a sigh of relief he had not known he was holding, while Marinette just looked into the direction Sabrina has disappeared into. Then she shrugged and continued walking. Though just when the secret _Cat Sidhe_ was about to pick up their earlier conversation again, Marinette stopped. For a second time that day, Adrien froze.

_Oh, so_ that’s _why the air is so thick with magic…_

His noirette companion had stopped in front of nothing less than what looked like an antique shop with various curious trinkets hanging in and beyond the shop’s front windows. It did not surprise him that the colourful glass orbs and wind chimes with small metallic birds would catch Marinette’s attention, since such things were very easily inspiring. No, it surprised him that she noticed the entire shop _at all_.

It had been a while since he had been there himself, the last time had been with his mother when he was probably around nine years old, but even from that short visit he remembered that this shop was something that was not meant for human eyes. It had a glamour on it that would let people ignore its existence, similar to how many faeries stayed invisible. He could see the shop and so could other faeries, but Marinette should _not_ be able to see it.

_Oh no, this is my fault! Félix was right!_

Marinette did not seem to notice Adrien’s inner panic attack and instead read the cursive writing of the wooden sign above the shop front.

“ _Mélusine’s._ Hmm, they must be new. I don’t come to Montparnasse often, but I’m sure I would remember seeing a shop like that,” she mused, inevitably making Adrien panic even more. What could he say to dissuade her from ever seeing it? If she would memorise the name and the shop’s location, she could probably find it on her own and that was an _extremely_ bad idea.

He almost had a heart attack when Marinette tried to open the door, finding it locked.

“ _Closed on Saturdays_ ,” she read on the sign at the door and tilted her head. “Weird day to close up shop. Saturdays would probably be the most lucrative after all.”

“Maybe it’s personal reasons, you never know,” Adrien said before she would also notice the sign that said “ _Open from dusk till dawn.”_ He mentally patted himself on the back to sound somewhat normal and not like he was internally panicking up a storm. Instead of grabbing Marinette and forcefully dragging her very far away from _Melusine’s_ , he just gently took her hand and pulled her away from the shop that was not new at all.

“When is the delivery due by the way? I don’t want to be the cause for us being late after all,” he said, very desperately trying to change the subject. To his relief, Marinette immediately jumped on the topic, looking at her watch.

“We still have about fifteen minutes. Let’s hope it’s easy to find.”

Thus, concluded Adrien’s panic attack of the day and the beginning of their frantic search to find the address. It turned out to be one of those houses that had a shop at the ground floor and therefore a back-alley entrance, which made it, contrary to what Marinette had wished, ridiculously hard to find. With only minutes to spare, they delivered the order to a thankful old lady—a normal human and not a faerie like Adrien had feared; he was _done_ with faerie surprise-encounters for the day.

The way back to the bakery went more smoothly. Adrien successfully distracted Marinette with the question what she thought of his brother, so that she did not notice the faerie shop a second time. Her answer to his question, though, surprised him somewhat. Not ever had anyone described his brother as “comfortable to be around.”

“Is that an artist thing? Because I don’t get it,” Adrien said after that particular response. His mother had always told him how faeries were drawn to artists, since they were different from other people. He had never really understood why until he met Marinette. In contrary to other people, she was almost a complete mystery to him and therefore unpredictable. It was unnerving and exciting at the same time.

“I don’t know,” Marinette said thoughtfully. “He had his book, his coffee and his cake and seemed to be content while I was just there, sketching. Usually people expect a conversation or just attention and it’s pretty relieving when you encounter someone who doesn’t expect that. Takes away the tension.” She shrugged.

“You might be one of the first people to get along with him then. Most don’t quite know what to do with Félix because he either doesn’t participate at all or just makes brutally honest remarks. A lot of people find him rude or unapproachable but he’s actually very nice.”

Marinette smiled at him. “It’s nice that you’re defending your brother like that,” she said. “I’ve just met him once so far, so I can’t really judge, but I also think that he is not a bad person. We sometimes get customers who are quite rude about their expectations, so I know a foul apple when I see one. Félix was quite civil in comparison to that.”

“Hopefully you’ll get to know him better soon because he told me that we would only help me out this once, so he will probably use his free afternoons to pay your parents’ bakery a few visits. He was very fond of the coffee cake by the way.”

Marinette giggled. “He told me that too. Do you want the recipe? Because he only has two more weeks to enjoy it before we close down.”

Adrien threw her an alarmed look. _Close down?!_

“B-b-but…why close down?” Adrien asked in silent shock, but Marinette stayed calm and just waved off his concerns with a hand.

“Just for August. It’s the law that bakeries in Paris have to close down for one month and we always pick August for that. We’ll be open again in September, don’t worry,” she said, which considerably calmed Adrien down again. For a moment he had feared that they were going out of business and had to move away.

“What are you doing in August then?”

“Usually _Papa_ uses that time to experiment with possible new recipes. Some are good, some are not, but it’s all in good fun. _Maman_ and I are always the ones who have to taste-test these experiments and it’s like eating Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, but with pastries: you never know if what you get is gonna taste good or bad. When I’m not doing that, I will probably design and sew some outfits and binge some shows I wanted to watch for a while.”

“That sounds a lot more fun than my schedule for August,” Adrien said with a jealous sigh. “Any chance I could taste-test one of those pastries too?” He had been close to also asking if he could join her in binge-watching whatever shows she wanted to watch and maybe even help her with her outfits, but both seemed a little too forward for the moment.

“Sure, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Marinette grinned. Adrien, who had expected a rejection, made a double-take.

“Wait, really?” he asked excitedly. “I can come by even when you’re closed?”

Marinette smiled but averted her eyes while absentmindedly twirling a strand of hair, that had come loose from her bun. “Only if you want to, of course.”

“Of course, I want to!” Adrien immediately said and had to hold himself back so he wouldn’t start skipping giddily.

“You’ll need a better disguise until then though, so when do you have time?” Marinette said and her shyness slowly melted away in favour of a mischievous smile. Adrien returned the expression. Who would have thought that plotting his escapes would be this much fun?

 

 

“We’re back,” Marinette said the moment they walked through the door into the bakery.

“We?” Sabine asked before turning around and smiling as she saw Adrien.

“Adrien, it’s good to see you again!” she said and stepped around the counter. In the time it had taken to deliver the order, the afternoon rush in the bakery had slowed down, so that it was currently free of customers.

When Sabine hugged Marinette, Adrien was getting a little jealous at the display of motherly affection. He still tried very hard to maintain a pleasant façade. It therefore came as quite a surprise when his cheek suddenly received an affectionate pat from the Chinese woman.

“It’s very gentlemanly of you to help Marinette with deliveries,” she said with a smile that was just a little _too_ innocent.

“ _Maman!_ ” Marinette exclaimed and started to blush profusely. “It’s not…it wasn’t…he was just…”

Adrien wanted to save Marinette from her embarrassed stammering, but he also was at a loss of what to say.

“Why don’t you stay for dinner, dear?” Sabine asked him, obviously unperturbed by her daughter’s mortification. Finally, he could find words again.

“I’d love to, but my brother and I have evening classes at six and since I technically shouldn’t be here in the first place, they will definitely notice that I’m missing and I can’t risk that.” It really _was_ a shame that he could not stay for dinner, but maybe, hopefully, the offer would be given to him again another time. Preferably at a time where he could actually make it.

“Oh, that’s too bad,” Sabine said, obviously disappointed but luckily not offended. “At least stay a little. Marinette has been holed up in her room for the past week and a little company could do her some good.”

“ _Maman,_ I am still here!”

“I…uh…I wouldn’t want to perturb,” Adrien said and he could feel his tail twitching nervously under his glamour as he picked up on Marinette’s discomfort. While he did not disagree with her mother and really wanted to stay at this peaceful place for as long as possible, he did not want Marinette to feel forced to hang out with him.

“Nonsense, dear,” Sabine said with a wave of her hand and gently pushed both teens in the direction of the stairs. “Just go upstairs. I’m sure you’ll find something fun to do.”

Marinette, whose face was still as red as the roses on her balcony, needed a moment to find words while she looked back and forth between her retreating mother and the staircase.

“I’m sorry about my mother, she’s a little…uh…”

“Persistent? I noticed,” Adrien said with a chuckle.

“Listen, you really don’t have to keep hanging out with me if you don’t want to,” Marinette said awkwardly, fiddling with the hem of her shirt while looking at her shoes.

“But I want to!” Adrien said and immediately bit his lip. Curse his impulsive faerie habits! Maybe he could still save this. “I hope this doesn’t sound weird or anything, but you’re a lot of fun to be around.”

“Oh,” Marinette said surprised and Adrien almost breathed a sigh of relief when he picked up on her happiness. Not all was lost yet after all! “Maybe we could play some video games?”

Adrien had a hard time to not give a happy wiggle which would have no doubt looked ridiculous in his human form. Video games were one of the topics they had not yet touched upon and so he had not been aware that Marinette liked them. It was yet another thing they had in common, which made him positively giddy.

“Sure!” he therefore said with a huge grin and let her lead him upstairs. He also noted that this would be the first time he would see her apartment from a human perspective. It also was the first time he would actually see her living room, without counting the small glimpse he had gotten of it as a cat. Therefore, when he entered it, he had to restrain himself from his nature of curiously snooping around. As kids, Félix and him had often done that when they were visiting someone and their father had not been pleased, repeatedly telling them how poor their manners were. The last thing Adrien wanted was for Marinette to think he had no manners, but even that did not stop him from turning around in a circle once they entered and taking everything in.

“It’s so pretty” he said in awe, again baffled by the fact that a human living space could actually be comfortable and not solely consist of cold marble and white walls. Well, the walls were still white, but it was a warm and welcoming white that mixed with the pinks and the dark wooden floor while the white walls in his house were just cold and lifeless. Here, his instincts told him to jump on the sofa and curl up between the cushions for a cat nap. He smothered the purr that was trying to make its way to his throat at the thought.

“Thanks, but it’s really nothing special,” Marinette said with a small blush. Adrien whipped around to her in disbelief. How could she not see how wonderful and perfect her home was?!

“It’s your home, that’s special enough.”

“I mean, you’re probably used to fancier houses.” She looked down as if ashamed and Adrien had to suppress the reflex to gape at her.

“Yeah, horrible right?” he said instead, which got her attention. “It’s always huge rooms, marble floors, white walls and…just cold. When you’re used to it, it gets suffocating. This though–” he motioned to the living space of the Dupain-Chengs– “is warm and comfortable. It’s… _normal_ , you know? I’m not in houses like this often, so this is my version of luxury. The grass is always greener on the other side and all that.” His hand wandered to the back of his neck when he realised that he had been rambling. That was impolite, wasn’t it? Hopefully it had not seemed too weird to her. The look she was giving him, one of confusion, did not quite help to calm him in that regard either.

“I guess I never thought of it like that,” she then said and threw him a smile. “In that case, enjoy the _luxury_.”

He breathed a quiet sigh of relief as she turned to the kitchen.

“Would you like something to drink?” She asked, already taking out two glasses from the cupboard.

“Water please,” Adrien said, not willing to tempt fate by accidentally asking for something that would get him into serious trouble—like how milk would count as an offering which would not be complete without bread and cheese and he did not know how offended his faerie side would be if neither of the other two things would be offered without prompting. Dispersing those thoughts, he accepted the glass of water with a small thanks.

“Since you can’t stay till dinner, do you want to grab something from downstairs? The bakery is going to close in two hours so I’m sure there are some things we can already proclaim as leftovers. We donate most of them since we can’t eat pastries every day, you know, but snatching a few won’t hurt.”

“Is that really okay? I mean, I can pay for them too.”

That seemed to have been the wrong thing to say because Marinette threw him a disapproving frown.

“I’m not gonna let you _pay_ for food. You’re my guest after all.”

“O-okay,” Adrien said, not daring to argue with her about it. It was confusing to have two different sets of morals and manners. On the one hand, the manners his father taught him said to insist on paying since it was the right thing to do. His faerie side however was delighted at the prospect of free food and did not want to argue further. Deciding to give Marinette the lead on this one was probably wise since he wanted to get in her good graces anyway.

 “I maybe should have suggested to grab leftover food when we were still downstairs,” Marinette said with a nervous giggle as she pulled a plate out of a cupboard. “I’ll just quickly go and look what we have and take one from everything, okay?”

Adrien was about to argue, saying that he would not mind accompanying her downstairs, but then quickly changed his mind as he realised what kind of opportunity this gave him.

“I don’t mind waiting, go ahead,” he therefore said with a smile.

“I’ll try to be quick,” she said as she rushed out the door and down the stairs.

“Take your time,” Adrien said with a grin, knowing she wouldn’t hear him anymore anyway. Instead, he used this precious time to walk to one of the walls and press his hand to it.

He had wanted to give Marinette and her family a blessing ever since she had helped him on Midsummer and the good deeds had just kept coming since then. It was really overdue at this point. The blessing would have to be a subtle one, so that other fae would not immediately notice it. He had only once blessed a house, that of an old lady who had put a bowl of a milk and a loaf of bread on her balcony as an obvious offering on Samhain.

From back then, he remembered that a blessing came easiest to a _Cat Sidhe_ when all requirements were met and when the day was right. The first was not a problem since this family had practically showered him with nothing but kindness, generosity and a various number of offerings so far. It was neither Samhain nor Beltane though. It even was full moon and daylight, which worked to Adrien’s disadvantage since an Unseelie faerie like him drew power from a new moon and the night. Bad conditions like that would no doubt give him some magical repercussions, but he chose to ignore that minor discomfort.

Adrien closed his eyes and took a deep breath, drawing in the magic in the air around him that humans could not feel. It filled him with warmth that shifted and flickered as if it were alive, not unlike a candle’s flame would feel without it burning him. Then he breathed out, wishing good luck on this house and its inhabitants. Good luck was vague enough to be written off as coincidence. Nothing Marinette or her parents would question like some other faerie blessings, where they would, for example, find a new piece of gold every day. No, good luck was nice and subtle and Adrien would gladly deal with the little backlash of bad luck he’d have to bear in return. If tripping a few times or spilling a drink was the price to pay for this kind family getting what they deserved, then he did not mind.

He quickly stepped away from the wall and did his best to look to all the world like he had been standing on this spot the whole time when he heard someone—no doubt Marinette—rushing up the stairs.

“I managed to snatch a chocolate croissant for you. _Papa_ said you order it every time,” Marinette said while walking up the last flight of stairs and then appeared in the doorway with a plate full of various baked goods in her hands.

“Awesome!” Adrien said while his eyes zeroed in on the croissant. He followed Marinette to the sofa where she put down the plate on the coffee table.

“So, games!” she said and rummaged around the TV. “We just have a few multiplayer ones, so take your pick.” One by one she laid out the cases of the games she had on the coffee table and Adrien noticed that he had all of them too. He grinned when he saw “Mario Kart” join the selection. The first and only time he had played multiplayer on it was with Félix who had not stopped to complain about how the game was illogical, which ended in the declaration that it would just stress him out and that he therefore would not play it anymore.

“Can we play this one?” Adrien therefore immediately asked and pointed at the racing game in question. “I also promise to go easy on you.”

For some reason, Marinette’s whole stance shifted at that and her grin turned mischievous. Something told Adrien that he had just made a mistake.

“How nice of you,” she said while her eyes shined with a glint not unlike that of a kelpie’s stare when one was about to fall for its trap. Then again, this was just a friendly game of Mario Kart and not a water beast that tried to lure him into touching its skin to then drag him to a watery grave. What could go wrong?

 

Just thirty minutes later, Adrien found out that a lot of things could go wrong. It was nothing that would lead to either of their deaths, but it included some high-grade trickery for sure. After all, what else could be the reason for his continued losses? He looked at the screen in disbelief as it declared Marinette the winner of a race _again_ and him as second… _again_. He had tried all the tricks he has learned in single player mode but none of them worked with her. As it turned out, playing against another player and not a computer-generated one was a whole lot harder than he thought it could be.

He pouted as Marinette made a little victory dance. It had been cute the first time, but after being defeated four times in a row, he just sullenly took another pastry from the plate—his chocolate croissant long eaten—and tried his best not to show his displeasure. It was rare that he did not get what he wanted and right now, he _really_  wanted to win.

“Rematch!” he therefore demanded once Marinette had sat down again. He would have to be careful not to accidentally influence her gameplay with some magic, because that surely counted as cheating, right?

“How about we make a team race this time with both of us on the same team?” she suggested and he reluctantly agreed.

While he technically won when they played as a team, he still always came second to Marinette, only managing to cross the finish line before her once, but that was just because she had been hit by a blue shell.

 

When it was time for him to go home, rain had started to fall outside and Adrien could feel the fur under his glamour standing on end. While he had felt a certain tension in the air the whole day already, it was especially unlucky that it decided to come down now when he had to go outside. Then again, this was probably the bad luck he got for the blessing he gave. As he watched the thick raindrops hit the windows and run down in tiny streams, he started to almost regret his decision. Just almost.

Adrien profusely thanked Marinette for the wonderful time, the pastries, even the glass of water—the latter made her laugh—and then set out to depart.

“Wait,” she called and he looked back up the stairs to her, hand on the doorknob. “Just wait a minute, I’ll be right back!” With that she rushed back up the stairs, leaving Adrien at the door wondering just what she could be up to. When she returned half a minute later a little out of breath, she held out a pink umbrella to him.

“It’s not the best but it is _something_. Be careful, one of the metal joints is broken, so it does not unfold very well on that side anymore. I really should get a new umbrella at some point but I always forget and now this is the only one I got, otherwise I would have given you a better one!”

“Thank you,” he said and threw her a smile that threatened to break his face. “I’ll give it back to you on Wednesday.”

“It’s okay, you can keep it if you want. N-not that you have to or anything, since it’s broken and all and I’m not using you to get rid of broken things, that’s not it at all! I just thought that if you like it and don’t have an umbrella you can keep it. Which is ridiculous because of course you have an umbrella because you’re rich and…”

Adrien could just stare at her with wide eyes, not being able to comprehend that _Marinette_ had given him a _gift_! Sure, she had gifted him food before, but this was different. This was something she really did not have to do but still did; giving him her only umbrella just so that he would stay dry, no matter how broken it was.

He ended her endless rambling by giving her a hug. She squeaked at the unexpected gesture, but hesitantly returned it anyway. She blushed slightly when they broke the hug, to which he had to hold back a chuckle.

“I might have own umbrellas at home, but certainly no half-broken pink ones. I think I’m gonna keep it,” Adrien said with a grin. The next time he would need an umbrella, he would certainly be using Marinette’s pink one, if just to spite his father a little. Félix would no doubt find it hilarious.

“O-okay then, if you insist,” she said shyly.

“You offered it as a gift first. No returns!” he laughed and opened the door.

“Again, thanks for today. I really had a lot of fun.” _And minor heart attacks,_ Adrien added internally.

“I had a lot of fun too,” Marinette said with a smile that lit up her eyes. He had done this. He had made her smile like that without charming her at all. The reason for it was a simple afternoon of him being himself and her being herself. No fake smiles, no carefully chosen words, no charades—except the glamour of course, but that was alright. Had he really done it? Had he managed that someone liked him for him? The thought alone made him want to break out in a happy song, but he learned the hard way that this looked horribly weird in public.

“See you on Wednesday then. I’ll count the days!” Adrien said after opening the umbrella—it really _was_ half broken—and throwing her another smile and a wave.

“Y-yeah, see you then. I’ll have a game plan ready,” Marinette said, apparently gaining some of her courage back. It was sad how it seemed to come and go and not stay.

“Wouldn’t expect anything less,” he said and with a last wave, stepped out into the rain. It was not until he reached the corner of the street that he heard her front door close. He smiled to himself as the raindrops fell on the umbrella, the wetness just minorly touching him. Unseelie meant _unhappy_ , _misfortunate_ or even _unholy_ , but maybe the universe did not completely despise him after all.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could not resist an umbrella scene! ;w;   
> I first contemplated if I should even keep it in, but my beta-reader Queenie was yelling at me about how cute it was, so it stayed. You can thank her for it! XD


	9. Friend Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette needs to sort some things out. Nino to the rescue!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, fair warning: this chapter has _not_ been beta-read, but I did my best to make it sound good on my own, so I hope it's okay! :3  
>  My beta-reader Queenie had a model contest finale to concentrate on yesterday. She did not win, but she wore a replica of Adrien's ring (which got compliments) and brought a hat with her so she could copy his model poses (she watched the new episodes already while I did not, so please no spoilers!). I think we can all be proud of her for that alone! <3
> 
> It was a lot of fun to _finally_ write Nino by the way! I kind of based his and Marinette's friendship on the friendship of me and one of my childhood friends. We kinda drifted apart when we went to different schools, but now that we're both in our 20s we're slowly trying to rekindle what we once had. For Nino and Marinette it has thankfully just been one year and not ten years. XD

Ever since their first encounter, Marinette had known that there was something weird about Adrien. The kind of weird that felt similar to Chloé’s unprovoked cruelty, just that Adrien was not cruel in the slightest. Yet, the similarity and even familiarity, as she later found out, had made her distrustful of him at first. It had taken a bit of thought, but she had eventually written the feeling off as ridiculous. After all, both Chloé and Adrien came from rich families and mingled in the same circles. Of course, there would be a certain _vibe_ about them, as Nino would call it. She still held on to that belief, even though some deep part of her whispered advice to still distrust the rich boy.

Adrien was not normal at all, she could say that with absolute certainty. Their interactions had been awkward at first, but his reactions of wonder at the most common of things had made Marinette lower her defences significantly. She eventually understood that he was just a sheltered rich boy in need of a friend, and if he chose her as that friend, then who was she to argue?

Her gut feeling, that was usually quite reliable, had gone through ups and downs during the whole day. One moment it told her to stay away from him, like when he had suddenly pulled her into an alley and told her to be quiet. Then her gut apparently changed its mind and told her to get closer to him, engage in conversation and make him happy. It was a confusing contradiction.

Then there was the part of her that guiltily admitted that Adrien was indeed _very_ attractive and that was an understatement. Marinette had never seen a boy whose eyes were the same soft green as Adrien’s or who had hair that was so blond it looked like polished gold. There was almost something otherworldly to his beauty and one really would have to be blind to deny it.

Yes, Adrien Agreste, teenage model and face of the Gabriel fashion brand, was undeniably extremely attractive. That was a fact. She would lie if she would say that his looks had not influenced her to forgive him faster, after all she was but a simple teenage girl. To preserve some humility, she could also gladly admit that it had mostly been his actions rather than his looks that had convinced her.

Still, hanging out one-on-one with someone like Adrien for several hours on end would probably leave anyone a confused but happy mess. She really needed to sort these emotions out with someone that would not gush about how cute Adrien and her looked together. That clearly ruled out her parents and left her with Nino as her best bet.

She sighed when she thought about her best friend—could she still call him that? Drifting apart from Nino was something she never thought would happen and yet it had happened. At this point, she had not heard from him in over a week, ever since he had flown to Morocco on vacation. It was something that previously never had happened. He would have at least texted her when he arrived and then complained about his family’s antics to her every day with either a call or via text. This was always how it had been, until it had not been like it anymore.

With another sigh, Marinette laid the phone down on the kitchen counter and started to take out pots, pans and ingredients. While her parents closed up shop downstairs, Marinette was supposed to start cooking dinner, which also gave her precious time alone to sort out the mess she suddenly found herself in. She kept throwing glances at her phone, especially when she was left with nothing else to do while waiting for the water to boil.

Unsureness of whether to call Nino or not grew in her the more time passed. It was only close to six in the evening and there was just a one-hour time difference anyway. Maybe he was doing something fun with his family though and she did not want to interrupt him with her boring lamenting.

Against her better judgement she still picked up her phone and scrolled to his contact, torn between what was the right thing to do and eventually deciding not to be a bother to him. She saw her _Nonna_ ’s contact below Nino’s and decided to call her instead. Then again, she was probably on her motorcycle at that moment. She rarely sat still at one place even for a woman her age. Trying did not hurt though.

She went to click on her _Nonna_ ’s number, but apparently her finger had slipped because suddenly the picture of a whole other person appeared on the display and her phone was dialling Nino’s number. After a few seconds of panic, she eventually held the device to her ear and waited nervously.

“Hey Marinette! How’s it going?” Nino’s cheerful voice greeted her after only two rings and she felt herself relaxing. Hearing his voice in the same carefree manner she was used to felt like they had never drifted apart in the first place.

“Cloudy, rainy and cool. And you?” she asked, surprised how easy it was to talk to him when not seeing his face. Maybe calling him had been the right decision after all.

“Hot as hell. I’m just very glad they have air conditioning here, otherwise I’d be fried and could be fed to the sharks at the aquarium,” he laughed.

“I guess they’d prefer raw meat or more specifically fish. In a fried state you are neither,” she joked back with a grin. “How is Casablanca otherwise?” She really wished she could be there with him and just explore the city, lie on the beach and sketch whatever ideas she would get from the new surroundings.

“Eh, same old same old. The ‘wow new’ feeling kinda wears off after you’ve been there a couple of times, you know? Could also live without the family drama. Little B got into a fight with some cousin of ours yesterday and it was a huge mess.”

“Unprovoked though?” Marinette asked with a grin, knowing fully well that Nino’s little brother was almost a saint for a kid his age when it came to controlling his temper, probably due to Nino’s calm influence.

“He swears that Tazim threw the fish first and that’s probably true, but my aunt went all ‘my perfect son wouldn’t do this’ and it escalated from there. I just tried to stay out of it for the most part.”

“Sounds quite dramatic. I’d switch with you since it’s been kinda boring for me and I could use some excitement.” Even though she was technically already getting it in the form of a certain blond trying to give her emotional whiplash with his randomness.

“Yeah, a little bit of Marinette-temper is _exactly_ what we need right now,” Nino said sarcastically and then chuckled. “You’d be throwing around tables before they even knew what was happening.”

“I would _not_ throw around tables!” she protested adamantly while checking on the water, which was still not boiling.

“But you could and no one except Ma and Pa would expect it. A small, unsuspecting Asian girl wreaking havoc? It would definitely shock the fam into silence.”

“Did you just call me _short_ , Lahiffe?”

“It’s the truth and you know it. Though it also works to your advantage quite often. Remember that one time in the park when some guy thought you to be an easy target and tried to steal your purse? You just threw him over your shoulder!”

Marinette snorted at the memory. “Him running away in fear was kind of hilarious,” she admitted. “But I wouldn’t have been able to do that if it wasn’t for the fact that I helped carry in supply deliveries ever since I could lift a flour sack. That and because _Maman_ thought it was necessary to teach me martial arts. Not complaining though.”

Finally, the water was boiling. Marinette added the noodles while cradling the phone between her ear and shoulder.

“By the way, Nino, can I ask for your advice on something?”

“Advice, huh? Well, I don’t have my crystal ball with me right now but I’m also plenty wise without it, so shoot.”

Marinette grinned at the reminder of Nino’s fortune-telling phase from two years ago. It had been a short spectacle, only lasting a few weeks, but it had led to both of them declaring the glass ball from Nino’s grand-aunt to be _defective_. Entertaining stories could be told from that whole ordeal and they kept bringing them up on various occasions.

“What would you do if you thought someone insulted you but it was actually a social misunderstanding. At least I’m ninety-three percent sure it was.”

“Ninety-three percent?” Nino snorted.

“Shut up, it’s an estimated number! Anyway, if said person would then show up a week later and not only say that he’s friends with Chloé but also say that he’s never been to a bakery before‒”

“He’s never been a to a bakery before?!”

“Nino,” Marinette said warningly while working on the sauce.

“Sorry. Continue, please.”

“ _As I was saying_ , he said all that and then left a weirdly poetic note in which he apologized for the incident from a week ago. He then continued to leave messages when coming by in the very early mornings. Then, one week later, his twin shows up and says that his brother doesn’t stop talking about me. So, I end up feeling guilty and invite him to hang out. I could not know that he would show up the very next day and accompany me through half of Paris on a delivery and being a huge dork all the way. Like, imagine the reaction of a child when it’s on the Metro for the first time and then imagine a boy our age reacting like that. It was kind of hilarious to be honest. Then we ended up playing video games until he had to go home and it was nice, but…it’s still kind of odd.”

Nino was silent for a few seconds before responding. “Well, I don’t know what advice you’re looking for here, but it does sound like quite the mess. What was the misunderstanding though?”

“He complimented my designs, saying he wanted to, and I quote, ‘make it up to me with something to match the beauty of my creations’ and proceeded to gift me a dead leaf.”

Howling laughter sounded from the other side of the phone so that Marinette had to free it from pinning it to her ear and holding it at a distance instead.

“Oh man, that’s rich!”

“Gee, thanks for making me go deaf on my right ear. Anyway, according to his brother he’s socially-awkward.”

“Dude, I _know_ socially-awkward, but this is next level! And sorry about your ear.”

“Apology not accepted, you’re now punished to be on speaker phone,” Marinette said while placing the device back on the countertop and tending to the dinner on the stove.

“But seriously, ‘Nette, do you like him?” Nino asked, his voice taking on a more sober tone. Marinette bit her lip in thought.

“I think so? I don’t know. He’s just relatable in this basic kind of way, you know?”

“Define _basic_.”

Could she tell him about the exact content of the notes? After all, those had been meant for her eyes only and just passing on what they said felt like betrayal. She decided to put it vaguely.

“Thinking about the little things in life, I guess? That what you always call your ‘philosophical moments’ where you think about the universe and life and such.”

“Interesting. Quite deep stuff to tell someone when first meeting them. It definitely adds to the ‘socially awkward on astronomical levels’ theory.”

“That’s what the notes were about. When talking he’s a little more…enthusiastic?” Marinette said, asking herself if that word fit. “In any case, he’s not the quiet and broody type. That would be his brother. It’s kind of scary how they can be twins but yet be such opposites.”

“Well, I haven’t met either of the dudes, so I can’t say anything for certain. But when his brother is the broody type, have you considered that the notes have been from him instead?”

“No, they’re not. Adrien always spontaneously writes them when he comes by each morning to buy pastries. At least according to my parents.”

“Well, then he might be a deep thinker but it’s awkward to say it out loud rather than to write it down, you know?”

“Probably. Especially since we practically don’t know each other.”

“And, how is this going to continue now?”

“Well, we made plans to go shopping next week because he wants an escape outfit and I have a better fashion sense than he does.”

“ _Escape_ outfit? Dude, does he come from an abusive family or something?” Nino asked, now with worry. That was when Marinette noticed that she had told him yet just who she was talking about.

“No, nothing like that! Or at least I hope not? He’s rich, well, his family is, and his days are scheduled so he has no time for himself at all, unless he climbs out of a window. This is still mildly concerning though.”

“Dude,” Nino just said and Marinette could almost see him shake his head in disbelief. “Poor guy, that must be tough.”

“Yeah, but it gets even better…or worse, depending on how you look at it.”

“Go on.”

“You know Gabriel Agreste? This one fashion designer I am a fan of?”

“You’ve talked about him before I guess? Can’t really put a face to the name though.”

“Well, the guy I have been hanging out with and his twin brother are Adrien and Félix _Agreste_. The sons of my favourite fashion designer. I just spent the whole afternoon hanging out with a model who thought that _designer clothes_ and _sunglasses_ would make for a good disguise!”

“ _Dude_ ,” Nino said again, this time speechless. “How did you even get yourself into that situation?”

“I…err…kinda almost ran Adrien over,” Marinette admitted and was glad to have the phone on speaker because Nino started laughing very loudly again. She used the time it took him to calm down to tend to the food.

“So, let me get this straight,” Nino said when he stopped laughing, “You almost run the model son of your favourite fashion designer over, he says something super cheesy and probably accidentally insults you. Then he starts coming to the bakery and leaves you poetic notes and one day his brother shows up and tells you that the other dude is always talking about you. Then you invite him to hang out, he is being a huge dork, you criticize his fashion sense and then you end up playing video games. Then you make plans to go shopping together.

“Marinette, have you ever considered writing a book about this? Because I swear, things like that only happen to you.”

Marinette groaned. “I _know!_ My life is a soap opera!”

Nino, who seemed to have a ball with all the information, was undeterred though. “From what I get is that this dude is very strictly sheltered, so you help him to escape, right?”

“Yeah, sort of.”

“Just show him how a normal teenager lives then. You know, this typical ̍esteemed guy meets normal person and they teach them how to let loose and have fun’ movie trope, just in real life.”

Marinette snorted. “Yeah, because Marinette Dupain-Cheng is known to be the most entertaining person ever!” she deadpanned.

“Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself. You can be fun!”

“Nino, at the moment I just sit around at home, sew outfits, play video games and binge shows. Sometimes I work downstairs in the bakery and do deliveries but that was it.”

“Marinette,” Nino said seriously and the girl in question paused tending to the sauce for a moment at his tone. “You are literally the most creative and inventive person I know. This boy is sheltered, which means he probably missed out on a lot of stuff normal kids do. So just do normal things with him. Let him experience the wonders of microwave popcorn, bake chocolate chip cookies with him, make a picnic on your balcony out of it, I don’t know! Normal stuff. And if you’re unsure if he’ll like something, then just ask him first if he wants to do what you planned.”

“You make it sound so easy,” Marinette grumbled, but still mentally noted his ideas down.

“Because it is. You’re just overthinking everything again. Go with the basics, get a feeling of what he likes and ease into this friendship if that’s what you’re going for.”

She sighed. “Nino, do you really think this is a good idea? I mean, yeah, Adrien seemed friendly, but he is also, like, way out of my league, being the son of my favourite fashion designer and all. Also, he is _friends_ with _Chloé_ for Pete’s sake!”

“If this would be a prank by Chloé you would have called his bluff already and he came to _you_ not to her, so that says something.”

“When also not much. To voluntarily go near Chloé one really would have to have a death wish or something.”

“Or be on her good side, which he apparently is.”

“Also, girl talk here for a second, he is _very_ …attractive,” Marinette blushed as she said it out loud, the statement seeming out of place with the kind of awkward yet playful relationship Adrien and she had so far. There had been nothing romantic about them ever, so it felt weird to objectify him like that.

“I’m just scared that this is kind of subconsciously messing with my perception of the whole thing, you know?”

“Hmm,” Nino said and the line was quiet for a few moments while he thought. “If you really can’t tell whether your hormones are messing up your judgement, then try to convince him to make a video call so I can see for myself what we have to deal with here.”

Marinette was very relieved with that idea. Nino had an excellent intuition when it came to judging other people and if he approved of Adrien, then she could be pretty much assured that her deceptive hormones were, in fact, _not_ messing with her perception.

“I’ll ask him next time I see him.” And just like that, their main conversation point came to an end and Marinette was left with the uncomfortable reminder that Nino and she were actually not as close as they had once been, even though this talk had seemed like nothing had ever happened.

Yet here she was, talking about starting a friendship with some new guy she met—a famous model no less—while Nino was still there, giving her advice. She suddenly felt the urgent need to address this so that he would not feel like he was being replaced. She ended the speaker phone mode and held the device to her ear again.

“Nino, listen. I know we’ve not talked much over the last year and it’s become kind of awkward, but I really don’t want us to drift apart like that,” she said, growing quieter to the end as she grew more insecure. On the other end, Nino sighed.

“Yeah, it sucks, doesn’t it? We’ve literally been friends since Kindergarten and for us to drift apart like this is just stupid. You know that you’re my best friend ‘Nette and I really don’t want to lose you just because I’m being an idiot.”

Marinette smiled weakly. “We’re _both_ being idiots. I know that a lot of people drift apart when they’re our age, but let’s not be like that anymore, okay? Our friendship is better than this. I’m sure that if we put some more effort into it we can also overcome these awkward teenage years somehow.”

“Exactly,” Nino agreed with a chuckle. “Let’s hang out when I come back from Morocco, okay? Like, the whole sleepover-experience. We could even try out the Ouija board again and see if my grand-aunt has some wise tips about how to properly work her tarot cards, so we don’t foretell people’s deaths again.”

Marinette laughed at the reminder. “Sounds good. And just so you know: you _will_ be part of the cake tasting then. No excuses!”

Nino whined. “ _Marinette!_ You know I’ll come back in the last week of August, right?”

“I know,” she said mischievously.

“You are an evil person.”

She cackled, knowing fully well that her father usually got extremely experimental with his recipes in the last week before reopening and the results were therefore usually not as delicious as one would expect from the creations of a master-baker.

“I won’t object that. After all, I promised Adrien some free samples as well.”

“The poor guy won’t know what hit him,” Nino said with a pitiful laugh.

“I warned him, but he was adamant about wanting to try everything. It was like promising a little kid free candy.”

“Well, then he’ll learn soon enough to listen to your warnings.”

“Apparently that’s a lesson no one ever learns, because I remember vividly to have warned you every single time to not eat too many onion bread rolls but guess who never listened and will never listen to that?”

“I relent!” Nino admitted with a chuckle. A comfortable silence befell them as Marinette poured the noodles into a bowl.

“I’m glad you called me, ‘Nette. We haven’t talked for a while and I really missed it to be honest,” Nino said eventually.

“Me too,” Marinette replied with a smile that Nino could not see but hear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is not yet finished and the new semester starts tomorrow, so I have absolutely no idea how much time I am going to have. While I will certainly try to finish it until next week, I really can't promise anything. I have about half of it written at this point, so that's at least something! C:  
> One thing I can tell you already though: It's going to be a Félix chapter! ;D


	10. Coffee Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Félix goes to the bakery to investigate >:3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been a while since we last had a Félix chapter, so this was fun to write!  
> Also special thanks to tog84 and bluetreeleaves for helping me with this chapter! You guys are lifesavers!
> 
> * * *
> 
>  _Dullahan_ = Headless rider that claims the souls of dying people  
>  _pain perdre_ = French name for "French Toast" and it literally translates to "lost bread" (just so that you know where the pun comes from)

Adrien was undeniably an idiot. Going on a delivery with Marinette in broad daylight—well, better daylight than moonlight—where he could easily be seen together with her was reckless enough. But to go to _Montparnasse_ of all places was a kind of idiocy Félix had not thought his brother to be capable of. In his quest to get closer to the human girl, he had accompanied her to the one place in Paris where he was almost guaranteed to encounter another one of his kind. With the small corner of Bretagne culture in France’s capital came no few of the fair folk, who felt more at home among the Celtic surroundings.

Forgetting that was a feat all on its own, but then going to no other place than onto the front porch of _Mélusine’s_ was unforgivable. Taken, it had been Félix himself who had gone there regularly in the past half year to get rowan berries, St. John’s wort and other herbs and trinkets for the critical days, but Adrien _knew_ about it nonetheless. He _knew_ where the shop was and the least he could have done was to change the side of the street so Marinette would not notice it due to his presence. What he _had_ done instead was to notice it and then drag her away from it after she had seen it.

Félix knew the humans and so he knew that they were too curious for their own good. Even if Marinette would not seek it out directly, it was just a question of time before she would find herself in Montparnasse again and remember the strange antique shop. The damage had been done. Whatever Félix or Adrien could say to discourage her to go, would just fuel her curiosity.

“Mélusine is nice. Maybe nothing bad will happen,” Adrien mumbled desperately from his perch on the highest bookshelf where he was wallowing in endless regret.

“She is a faerie,” Félix replied and took another sip of the coffee he desperately needed. The day had been long and absolutely dreadful. No wonder Adrien had begged for a break.

“ _We_ are faeries!” Adrien stubbornly hissed and Félix heard the unmistakable sound of claws on wood.

“We are the young and naïve exception.”

“But she’s a halfling too. Like us!”

“Be that as it may,” Félix said as he turned around to look at Adrien who just defiantly stared back. “When it is not Mélusine, then it will be another fair one, halfling or otherwise. Her shop is a safe place from this world of iron and lies and many use it as a sanctuary. Can you imagine what would happen if they found a human there? Needless to say, that the things Mélusine sells would even make the most oblivious person suspicious.”

Adrien was quiet after that, except for the occasional scratching sound when he ran his claws against the wood in frustration.

“I screwed up!” he lamented eventually and jumped down from the shelf in favour of pacing up and down the second level of their bedroom with his tail lashing wildly.

“At last, something we can agree on,” Félix said with a roll of his eyes, but did not miss the glare Adrien threw him.

“We can’t just leave her helpless like this! They’ll curse her or kidnap her or…or…” Adrien did not dare to speak his thoughts out loud but he also did not have to. Both of them knew of the ugly consequences.

Félix eventually let out a sigh and leaned back against the bookshelf. He would have much rather preferred to sit on the couch or even lie down on his bed, but his brother needed attention and he was willing to give it to him. For the moment at least. So, there he sat, with his almost empty Starbucks cup—he had worked hard for that coffee and obtaining it had included no small amount of trickery—and listened to his brother’s panicked rambles. It was high time for an intervention.

“Calm down. She does not know anything yet and she will be fine as long as she does not find the shop again.” The probability of this utopian outcome to actually happen was low, but by Danu, Adrien was going to tear the room apart again if he did not stop worrying. Some positivity was hopefully going to prevent that.

“Félix, I know that it would be safer if neither of us would see her again, but…she is the only human friend I have,” Adrien eventually admitted and stopped in front of Félix, looking up at him with hopeful eyes. It was quite selfish of his brother to bring the girl in danger just because he liked her. Then again, faeries _were_ selfish creatures and if Marinette could make Adrien happy, then Félix would tolerate her

“You really like her that much?”

“Yes! She is super nice and—”

“Don’t start with that again. _Please._ ” Félix rubbed his temples, already feeling a headache coming, though that was more from the bright lights at the photoshoot than from the current conversation. He doubted he could listen to one of Adrien’s ‘Marinette is so nice!’ speeches again without the throbbing getting worse.

“At least she is not connected to any fey magic anymore,” Félix sighed in relief. He really did _not_ need a repeat of Midsummer.

Adrien, to his surprise, ducked down in shame at his words.

“Actually…I…uh…kind of placed a blessing on their house today?”

Félix almost knocked his head on the bookshelf as he jumped up.

“You did _what!? Are you crazy!?_ ”

Adrien very wisely dashed to the other side of the second level and jumped on the banister.

“I’m sorry! It’s a subtle blessing, I swear! It’s good luck, they’ll be fine! No one is going to notice!”

“Why Adrien? Just _why!?_ ” The headache made itself known with a throbbing at the back of Félix’s head and he ran his hand down his face in exasperation. He knew his brother had meant well, but it would not hurt him to think a couple of steps ahead for once.

“They were kind to me! They gave me food, shelter and even an umbrella! It’s unfair to not give anything back.”

Félix just stared at his brother for a minute. A staring contest he eventually lost as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Fine,” he said through gritted teeth. “I’ll go to the bakery tomorrow and look if your blessing did any damage.” He fixed the black cat with and neutral glare again and Adrien had the decency to look guilty.

“You’re too impatient. If you want this to work out and not get her killed in the process, you have to stop doing fey things. I know it’s annoying and weird, but _be human_. Ignore your instincts and just do not use any more magic. That means no blessings, curses, enchantments, charms or otherwise. It would have been better to wait until Samhain with the blessing so it wouldn’t have backfired on you.”

“I don’t care about it backfiring on me. I can take some bad luck,” Adrien said stubbornly.

“Maybe you care about it backfiring on Marinette then? Because everyone you’re close to will be caught up in that bad luck of yours.”

“Oh…”

“Look, I’m not mad at you and nothing happened yet, but it could also be better. All I’m asking of you is to be more careful and to think things through before you do them. And no more magic.”

 

 

This was a mistake, Félix knew that deep down despite what conclusion Adrien and he had come to the previous evening. Yet he felt like he owed it to the girl for keeping his brother safe on Midsummer. A favour for a favour. Fair as fair. Even though she knew of neither favour.

It was still wrong.

Adrien and he were part of the Unseelie Court after all. They were born into it, though not properly raised to act the part. _Cat Sidhe_ were unlucky creatures that belonged into the darkness of the night, hidden away from the world. Bells—church bells and small ones alike—hurt their ears and they could not see perfectly well in daylight. Even if they tore themselves free from the Court and became solitary fae—which would not bring any benefits anyway—they would always be _misfortunate_. They could act as _Seelie_ as they wanted, but as _Cat Sidhe_ they would never belong into the Seelie Court.

Walking down the street at noon in summer made Félix realise once again how out of place he felt among people in the Paris daylight. Things were all the same here. People acted predictable and were shocked when something outside of the norm happened. This was why Félix did not like to talk to most folks. _He_ was outside of the norm and his blatant questioning of their _normal_ served only as an occasional amusement.

Confusion was not as satisfactory a reaction as shock or even anger was, but he simply lacked the interest to dig deep enough to find random people’s true weak points and address them. To hit a nerve was always interesting because the reaction was often a surprise. Just like opening a present. The unpredictability of those kinds of reactions was the only comfort he had among this monotone world.

When he met Marinette, Félix’s worldview had needed some adjusting. She had pleasantly surprised him during the short conversation they have had two days before and he started to understand why his kind felt drawn to artists. She was thinking outside the box and even more than that. Except of being drawn in by Adrien’s initial kind attempt at friendship and his natural charm, she had practically spat everything right back at him and proceeded to hate him. It had no doubt been the highlight of Félix’s summer to see his brother’s sunshine attitude fail for the first time ever. That she had eventually forgiven him and was giving this dangerous friendship a try also spoke for her.

Félix was not dreading the visit to the bakery like he had expected he would, no, he was actually looking forward to it. How would this girl surprise him this time and what conversation would they hold? The mystery of it intrigued him.

However, there was still the problem of the blessing and the bad luck it had given Adrien. He really did not want harm to come to Marinette, but there was still this tiny part in him that blamed her for his brother’s literally unfortunate situation. On the other hand, it was nice to see Adrien genuinely happy for the first time in what felt like forever. Their cold house stifled them both, but Félix had watched as his brother wilted away like a flower that did not get enough sunlight. He _needed_ to interact with people his age even if they were human. It was healthy.

 

“Welcome, what can I get for you…Félix?” Marinette said as he entered the bakery, only looking up as she had already finished her default greeting. She threw him a smile that wasn’t the strained, forcefully polite one he was used to receiving. It was odd, in a way, to have someone take a liking to him despite his tries to stay distant.

“Good afternoon, Marinette,” he said with a nod.

“It’s barely one.”

“Still after noon,” Félix shrugged and started to study the cake display.

“Adrien told me you would come back for the coffee cake so I saved a piece for you just in case. Only if you want it of course,” Marinette said, which made his attention snap back to the girl.

“That is very considerate of you. Thanks.” Félix accepted the plate on which lay a generously big slice of the same cake he had also gotten two days prior.

“Latte Macchiato like last time as well?” Marinette asked, already making her way to the coffee machine and Félix had to admit that he was impressed that she remembered his order.

“Yes, that would be perfect.”

As he sat down on the only table and set down his plate, another customer entered the bakery. He did not pay the newcomer much mind—he just flinched slightly at the unpleasant sound of the bell—and instead took out the book he had brought with him.

Poetry was one of the few things in his life that Félix could truly appreciate. The fact alone that only people with an open mind could truly understand the meaning behind most of the poems was appealing. It felt natural to him, just like songs, trickery and riddles did. A little piece of his faerie side that stretched into his human life. Not rarely had it served as a comfort in difficult situations and calmed him down.

A cup of coffee being set down in front of him and Marinette’s voice drew him out of a poem about a moonlit meadow.

“Not everyone gets summer vacation, so prepare to witness the rush hour.”

“I will keep it in mind,” Félix replied with a nod and noticed that the customer from before was gone now, leaving the bakery empty except for Marinette, him and who he presumed was her father in the back.

“I mean, it probably will be pretty noisy in here and if you want to have a quiet place to read we can also go upstairs. You don’t have to of course, but it’s an option.” Félix raised an eyebrow at her shy rambles. Those were new.

“While I appreciate the offer, don’t you think it is unwise to let strangers into your home without supervision?”

“Oh, I would be upstairs too. I’m only filling in for _Maman_ while she makes lunch.”

The offer was tempting but also unnerving. He did not visit human homes very often and while he knew the etiquette by heart, he still was afraid of accidentally offending Marinette in some way. Adrien would never forgive him if that happened.

“I would hate to inconvenience you with my presence,” Félix said. By the way Marinette snorted and tried to smother a laugh, he probably had either said something ridiculous for human standards or had sounded too formal.

“You’re not a bother, don’t worry. I was just going to work on some designs anyway. If you want we can also save the cake for later and you can eat lunch with me. Only if you want to, you really don’t have to!”

Her reassurances if he was alright with her propositions was a very welcome change to being ordered around. For the first time in a while, a decision was up to him. No wonder Adrien had felt compelled to give her a blessing.

 _The blessing!_ Félix had almost forgotten about it. Though first, he had to not completely ruin this conversation. Afterwards he would investigate if his brother had accidentally doomed the Dupain-Chengs.

“That is a very generous offer.”

“It’s really nothing,” Marinette replied and shuffled nervously on the spot.

“Think about it,” she added when the door opened again and she rushed back behind the counter to take the new customer’s order.

Félix did think about it. Accepting food or beverages from humans always held the risk of being poisoned. Not on purpose of course, but there were certain herbs that were harmless to humans but problematic to him. He would not _die_ from it, but it would make him very ill for a few days. Was the risk worth it?

Well, on the other hand he could just ask if certain things were in the food and just say that he was allergic to them. It was a half-lie but it would work. Then he could still decide if he wanted to eat it or not. It also would make Adrien jealous, which would be amusing to see.

Speaking of his brother, Félix knew he should investigate the blessing before he forgot why he was there in the first place or was interrupted again. So, he let the noise of the conversation Marinette held with the customer drift into the background and focused on the magic in the air instead.

Adrien had not been kidding when he had said it was subtle, since Félix had not been able to pick up anything at all so far. Only when he closed his eyes and concentrated did he sense the familiar hum of Adrien’s magic in the walls of the building. He was certain no one other than him would even remotely notice it.

It certainly was not because Adrien was particularly skilled—he wasn’t—but rather because he had no practice in blessings whatsoever and did not know how to cast one properly. The blessing was weak, which meant that its effects would also be minimal. Not even an attentive fae would notice the difference in the baker family’s luck. Félix only noticed it at all because Adrien’s magic was as familiar to him as his own shadow. The effects of the blessing were basically non-existent though.

_Well, it’s the thought that counts._

The good news of that was that Adrien’s bad luck would also be extremely minimal, which meant he would not be a danger to Marinette.

 

“Lunch is ready,” a voice suddenly called from the back and Félix, who had been in a slight trance, opened his eyes again. He saw an Asian woman—undoubtedly Marinette’s mother—descend the stairs just as Marinette handed back change to a customer.

“Thanks, _Maman_ ,” Marinette said and gave her mother a kiss on the cheek. Then she turned back to him.

“Félix?” she asked, suddenly seeming unsure of herself. It probably was impolite to refuse her kind offer anyway.

“Oh, so _you_ are Adrien’s brother!” Marinette’s mother suddenly exclaimed in delight before Félix could even say a word. “He has told us a lot about you.”

Félix sighed. “I feared that he has.”

“Oh, it’s all good things, dear,” she said with a smile that was probably meant to be reassuring and approached him. “My name is Sabine, by the way. Feel free to use it.”

The irony of the wording was not lost on Félix and he had to bite back an amused smirk. Another fair one would have probably used such an opportunity for an enchantment, but Félix had no use for tricks like that at the moment.

_No magic near this family unless you want to doom them._

Sabine held out a hand for him to shake and he took it, appreciating the formal gesture. From what Adrien had told him of the woman he had half-feared a hug.

“Félix Agreste,” he replied. “Marinette invited me to eat lunch with her and I hope that it is not a bother.”

“Of course it isn’t! Go on up, there should be enough for all of us,” Sabine said with a smile—another honest one. This would take some getting used to.

Marinette, who had indecisively settled to wait for him at the base of the stairs, gave him an awkward grin.

“ _Maman_ is a great cook, so I’m sure you’ll like whatever she made.”

Félix hummed as he joined her at the stairs, coffee and plate with the slice of cake in both hands. Marinette offered to carry it for him, but he declined with a shake of his head.

“I feel like I need to point out that I’m allergic so some herbs and Adrien is too.”

“Oh, I’m sorry about that.” _Why would she be sorry about that?_ “Which herbs are you allergic to?”

Where should he _start_? Probably the most common ones would do.

“St. John’s wort, rosemary, mints and we also don’t do too well with oatmeal and things that are overly salty.”

“Is the salt thing really an allergy or just a preference?” Marinette asked with an arched eyebrow.

“The latter, though I thought it would be helpful for you to know,” Félix admitted. Salt would not do him any harm, but he still preferred sweet to salty food.

The rest of the way upstairs was spent in silence.

“Well, _Maman_ made spring rolls, so there should be several flavours. We can try to pick something for you that is not too salty,” Marinette said as she approached the oven where said spring rolls were kept to keep them warm. She motioned Félix to sit down at the kitchen table while she retrieved them.

Félix set down his coffee cup and slice of cake but did not yet sit down. Instead, he decided to take a look around. The living room was just as Adrien described it, when also smaller than Félix had imagined it to be. Then again, it was a commendable size for a home this close to the Eiffel tower. That could not be cheap.

“You have a nice home,” Félix eventually said with an appreciative nod. Marinette, who had deeply contemplated the spring rolls as if her life would depend on which one she would pick, turned around and smiled.

“Thank you. Adrien said something similar yesterday.”

“I hope he…err…behaved. We don’t visit other peoples’ homes often.”

“He was a perfect guest, even though I beat him at Mario Kart several times in a row,” Marinette said with a grin and turned back to the spring rolls. She then picked two of them with a fork and put them on a plate.

“Here, those should not be too salty for you and it’s just vegetables inside. Is that alright or are you allergic to carrots too?”

“It sounds perfect, thank you,” Félix said and accepted the plate and a napkin.

“You’re supposed to eat them with a piece of lettuce and add some mint, but we’re out of lettuce and you’re allergic to mint, so I hope it’s alright like this? I can also give you chopsticks or a fork if that’s better?”

It had been quite a long time since anyone but Adrien had been this considerate about him, especially concerning small stuff like his preferred way to eat a spring roll.

“A napkin is fine.”

 

They both proceeded to eat their spring rolls in silence. What Marinette had said about her mother’s cooking skills more than held true. Maybe his personal chef could learn a thing or two from Sabine.

When Félix finally got to drink his coffee and eat his cake, he started to hear quite the noise from downstairs. Probably the rush hour Marinette had mentioned before. Now he was very glad to have agreed to eat lunch with her instead of staying downstairs.

“Is it okay if I leave you down here for a moment?” Marinette had finished washing both of their plates and now stood at the base of the staircase which Félix presumed led up to her room. “I just need to get my sketchbook and pencils from upstairs.”

Félix just nodded and she immediately sped up the stairs, tripping on one of the steps and then hurriedly continued like nothing had happened.

_Well, so much for the blessing bringing good luck._

Adrien definitely would have to practice with blessings if he wanted to try anything of this sort again and actually let it make a difference. Not that he _should_. Félix still thought that it would be best to leave Marinette completely alone magic-wise so that the folk wouldn’t notice her.

“You can also sit down on the sofa if you like. It’s more comfortable than the chairs,” Marinette said when she came back down the stairs, a sketch book and a box—which he presumed was full of pencils—held under her arm.

Félix did as suggested, sitting down at the side of the couch closest to the door. Not that he planned on fleeing, but he was simply more comfortable with having as many options open to him as possible.

Marinette sat down with a polite distance to him, spreading the contents of the box on the sofa to her right. He was slightly impressed with the sheer variety of coloured pencils she owned. It must be around two hundred or even more, neatly sorted into several colour palettes. One of them consisted of several shades of yellow while five of the pencils looked absolutely identical to each other. How she was able to keep them apart was a mystery to him.

Back in the day, a few years back, Félix had enjoyed watching his father design. Seeing creations being brought to life was fascinating to him and he could not decide whether he took more enjoyment in watching the craft or seeing the finished product.

It was not like this anymore. His father’s spark had slowly dimmed and after his mother’s disappearance it had all but vanished. His designs nowadays had little to do with the artistic genius he had once been and instead seemed lifeless. Echoes of what they could have been. Works of wasted opportunities and sterile practicality.

Marinette’s designs, on the other hand, were fresh and alive. She was young, creative and inventive, giving her creations an innocence he had rarely seen in the fashion world. Mostly because it was prone to mistakes. He could see flaws in her works, indications that she was not a designer yet but still learning. They would be fatal were she to try to make a name for herself with her current designs, but she wasn’t. She designed not to become famous and successful, but just for herself. For the joy of creating something new she could call her own.

Félix was so immersed with watching Marinette draw that he almost forgot to read his book.

Poems of autumn leaves and sunshine eventually drew him back to his own small sanctuary though. Away from a mortal realm where things needed to make sense to be understood. In the words of poems, birds could talk, foxes could dance and life was looked at with another angle. Things that humans often did not understand were written down clear as day here and small everyday mysteries were solved in an elegant play of words.

“Félix?” Marinette’s timid voice drew him out of this world again. How much time had passed? He honestly could not tell.

“Yes?” he said and looked up from his book. Judging by the three finished and coloured design concepts that lay on the coffee table, at least an hour or maybe two must have gone by since he had started reading.

“I don’t mean to throw you out, really I don’t, but when do you need to be home?”

That was an excellent question. He knew that he had free time scheduled starting at noon, but he had neglected to check for how long this free time was permitted. Adrien had fencing classes at that time and piano practice after that if he remembered correctly. Depending on what time it currently was, the latter might actually be over soon and the both of them would have classes with Nathalie afterwards. While Félix did not particularly care about those classes, he also did not want to leave Adrien alone like that, so he should get home timely.

He looked at his watch to find out that it was already half past four in the afternoon. How had that happened? Without noticing, he had sat in the Dupain-Cheng’s living room for almost four hours. It also meant that classes had started half an hour ago and he was indeed late.

_Smelt it!_

“Half an hour ago,” Félix admitted with a slight cringe. He quickly stood up from the sofa and threw Marinette and apologetic smile.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but I really have to go home now. Leaving Adrien alone with Nathalie spells disaster and I’d rather not have to deal with the fallout of it.” Said fallout would be a bored out of his mind Adrien that would in search for entertainment wreck their entire room. _Again._ Félix really did not envy the household staff that would have to tidy up the mess afterwards and he would rather prevent them from touching most of his stuff again.

“It’s okay. Go and save him, I guess,” Marinette said with a small smile.

“It’s rather my sanity that needs to be saved, but I will tell him that you worried about his wellbeing.” The slight teasing was usually something he reserved for his brother or few fellow fair folk—his behaviour towards humans was explicitly polite, as requested by his father—but he felt like Marinette could be an exception. It was probably the relaxed atmosphere that had driven him to do it, but being rewarded with a blush and incoherent stuttering as Marinette tried to defend herself, made it worth it.

 

 

“I won’t tolerate your unpermitted absences anymore, so you are to join Adrien for this week’s photoshoots.”

“Unpermitted absences?” Félix just calmly replied with an arched eyebrow. “I had free time scheduled and I used it as I saw fit.” Nevermind that he overshot it by over half an hour just yesterday.

“This _free time_ of yours is not to be used to leave the mansion, let alone doing so as a cat.”

“Well, it was not me who decided that an archway made out of iron would be a good idea, so you basically left me no other choice.” He knew provoking his father like this was not a good idea even at the best of times, but he simply lacked the capacity to care at that moment.

The previous afternoon he had spent with Marinette had been one of the most relaxing ones he had had for a while and it had very much been worth it. He had also been able to reassure Adrien that no faerie would notice the blessing and that Marinette and her family were therefore safe for the time being.

“Enough of this nonsense,” Gabriel said and the look he threw Félix would have severely frightened most people and made them bend to this man’s will. Félix was not one of his father’s employees or Adrien though. As soon as he had realised what he believed to be the cruel truth behind his father’s actions on Midsummer, he had vowed to not take part in this game of manipulation anymore. He was a _Sidhe_ after all. He should bow to no human.

“You have half an hour to get ready for the photoshoot.”

Félix then did something Gabriel had obviously not anticipated, judging by the surprised and at the same time disapproving look he threw his son: Félix started laughing.

There was no humour in his laugh and his eyes twinkled not with amusement but with malice. It was the laugh of a faerie before they played a cruel prank on a person.

When Félix looked up at his father again, there was something dangerous in his expression which made Gabriel hesitate.

“You hoped to keep us inside and the rest of the folk outside with these iron gates? What, do you hope that by locking us in here, Adrien and I will become human? Is it human to be locked inside a house?” Félix’s voice had taken on a mocking tone and the danger he emitted almost seemed graspable.

It held a certain thrill to talk back to his father in a non-human way. To remind him of who and what exactly he was dealing with. Perhaps Félix would regret this, but sometimes he was a creature of the present and consequences did not bother him then. Just because he _could_ think ahead did not mean that he always did.

“Félix, stop this ridiculous temper tantrum of yours and go to your room to get ready,” his father said. While his voice or expression did not let on to any difference to before, Félix noticed the small signs that he was getting through to him. The twitch of his eye, the clenched jaw, the tension of his body. Gabriel Agreste could deny things connected to the fair folk as much as he wanted, but he still knew of the dangers they brought.

Félix’s fey grin fell into a threatening frown. “Consider this a warning. You _know_ what you are dealing with here.”

And just like that, the _Cat Sidhe_ walked out of his father’s office and back to Adrien’s and his room. He did not even stop after he entered it.

“And, what did father say?” Adrien asked from where he was sitting at the desk, trying and mostly failing to thread dried rowan berries into a necklace. He was so concentrated to get the needle through a berry without breaking it that he did not even turn around to his brother.

“Unagreeable things,” Félix said with a huff. The black ears on top his blond head flattened when he heard steps approach that were not Nathalie’s.

“And that is my cue to leave.”

“Wait, where are you going?” Adrien asked, but Félix had already shifted and jumped out of the window.

 

 

Regret was a nasty feeling. Félix did not regret trying to intimidate his father, but rather leaving Adrien behind to deal with the aftermath. He should have taken his brother with him but his instincts had screamed at him to flee. He did not want to deal with his father any more than he necessarily had to and the ridiculousness that would have probably followed his threat promised complications. Doing something incredibly stupid like cursing his father counted among these things and it was not a very farfetched thought either.

Félix had gone to the first place that had come to mind as an escape: Mélusine’s. Being surrounded by faerie things was exactly what he needed at this moment. When he stood in front of the closed shop though, he remembered a little too late that she was always closed at daytime unless one made a bargain with her to open up during daylight hours _once_.

Wandering through the streets of Paris was not an appealing option either. Daylight and a mass of people both being the opposite of Félix’s idea of relaxation.

There really was just one single place he could go to at this point.

So, it came that he found himself opening the familiar bakery’s door and suppressed the cringe when the bell above it jingled.

“Welcome dear! What can I get for you?” Sabine said in a tone that indicated that she was very happy to see him. He still was not used to it. People just _weren’t_ happy to be in his company. It didn’t happen! He usually was shunned and with how utterly boring and rude most people were, that was honestly a good thing.

Even though he had witnessed Sabine’s cheerful and welcoming attitude the previous day already, he was still surprised to see it again. After all, she could have just played the cheerful mother previously to keep up a façade in front of her daughter. With that obviously not being the case after all, Félix felt an inexplicable and therefore irrational trust towards the woman. Inheritable honest and kind people did this to him, though they were as rare as they come.

Therefore, his next words were so unlike him that he had a hard time believing they came out of his mouth.

“Good morning, Madame Cheng. This might be an odd request, but can I hide here for the day?”

A few moments of silence passed in which Sabine’s smile fell and for a second Félix thought she was going to deny him. The worried look on her face told another story though.

“Of course, you can!” she said as if the idea of denying him was absolutely ridiculous. Had he accidentally charmed her? He hoped not.

She motioned for him to follow her behind the counter into the back of the bakery where her husband—or at least he _assumed_ it was her husband—was currently frosting a cake.

“Tom?” Sabine called and Félix guessed that this was the huge man’s name.

“Yes?” Tom said and turned around. He raised his eyebrows in surprise when he saw Félix, but not in an unfriendly way. He walked over to the two of them and extended his huge hand to the boy.

“Hello young man, I’m Tom. What brings you here?” he said with a friendly smile and a pleasant, warm voice. It was so very different to the icy, clipped voice of his own father.

“I’m Félix Agreste,” he introduced himself in the same way as he had introduced himself to Sabine the previous day. The answer to Tom’s question though was hard to put into words.

“I…do not have anywhere else to go for the day.” It was an answer that still lacked sufficient information, but the last thing he wanted to do was to tell those people about his home situation. May they be as kind and friendly as they were, but they were still basically strangers and his personal life was not their business.

To his endless relief, they seemed to understand him even without prodding for more details.

“Well, you are welcome to stay here,” Tom said. “You can help me in the bakery if you like.”

Félix guessed that helping in a bakery was a tempting offer to most kids his age, but for him it really wasn’t. He might like the sweet goods, but the craft itself was beyond him. He could not even tell one end of a whisk from the other if he tried, making him more than just useless. Faeries did not cook or bake; creating things was not in their nature.

“I would probably rather hinder you than help, but thank you for the offer,” Félix therefore politely declined.

“How about you join Marinette upstairs? I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you,” Sabine offered kindly, which sounded much more appealing.

 

Marinette was, in fact, _not_ very thrilled to see him. When he opened the door to the apartment he found her sitting on the sofa with her sketch book lying unused on the coffee table in front of her while an episode of Doctor Who—Adrien had begged Félix to watch it with him a while ago—played on TV.

“Good morning,” Félix said, but had not expected Marinette to jump and whirl around to him as if he was a _Dullahan_  that had come to declare her imminent death.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, clearly shocked by his sudden entrance. Well, to be fair, if someone he barely knew would just walk into his house and greet him while he was enjoying some peace and quiet, he would not be very pleased either.

“I don’t know where else to go,” he answered truthfully, similar to the answer he had given her parents. Just like them, Marinette seemed to understand immediately.

“Oh. I’m sorry about that,” she said awkwardly and pulled the blanket closer around herself as if to hide from him.

“Your parents sent me up here,” Félix added to somehow fill the awkward silence that had befallen them with just the sounds of the TV in the background.

“Of course they did,” Marinette muttered quietly to herself and then took the remote to pause the episode.

“I…uh…am not really dressed for guests right now, so give me a minute,” she said and stood up with the blanket clutched around herself.

“If you’re more comfortable in your pyjamas, I really don’t mind,” Félix quickly said before she could disappear up the stairs. The last thing he wanted to do was to make her feel uncomfortable in her own home.

“My brother is a model, so I’m used to all sorts of clothes,” he added as Marinette hesitated at the foot of the stairs. Eventually she shook her head.

“Still! I’ll be right back!” she said and hurried upstairs as fast as the blanket allowed without her tripping.

Félix decided that staying put would be the best option to not make Marinette panic even more. He heard shuffling from upstairs and quiet curses as she tripped in her hurry.

When she eventually descended the staircase again, she wore a pair of baggy grey sweatpants and a t-shirt with the Slytherin emblem on it. Félix could not help but comment on the latter.

“Well, that’s a relief. I don’t think I could have put up with another Hufflepuff.”

An amused smile appeared on Marinette’s face and he was glad for it.

_Good. Make her feel comfortable again without charming her in any way._

“You like Harry Potter?” she asked as she ventured into the kitchen.

“You could say I do. The worldbuilding is impressive,” Félix said with a shrug. He usually avoided fantasy fiction, because the inaccuracy concerning all things magic frustrated him. His mother had found excessive interest in this specific book series though and the memories he therefore connected to it made it an exception. It served as a nostalgic reminder of her from the days of his early childhood.

He remembered fondly how their mother, Adrien, and he had camped at the entrance of the mansion with pillows and blankets to wait for the delivery of the newest Harry Potter novel. Once it had arrived, she would let the two of them look at the cover art first and then let them take guesses about what was going to happen in the story based on what was depicted. Afterwards she would sit in her favourite chair in the living room and read it while both of them curled up on her lap. She had also read them chapters of the first book—the only one of the series they owned that was in French—as bedtime stories.

It was a memory too sacred to share with anyone else, since most would not understand it anyway or even call him silly. No, he preferred to keep memories of fond times untainted by keeping them to himself.

“We could marathon the movies if you like?” Marinette suggested while rummaging through the cupboards and the fridge.

“No, thank you. I personally prefer the books. I don’t want to keep you from your Doctor Who marathon either.”

At that, Marinette turned around to him with slight surprise. “You know the show?”

Félix rolled his eyes. “Try to have Adrien as a brother and not know nearly every popular TV show in existence.” His glance then wandered to the ingredients Marinette had gathered. “What are you making there anyway?”

“French Toast,” she declared. “You look like you haven’t had breakfast yet and this does not include salt or herbs, but some sugar.” She threw him a grin at the last one.

Well, Félix was not one to pass up free food…again.

“I suppose I can’t say ‘no’ to that then,” he said and a small smile tugged at his lips. “Though you really don’t have to.”

“I was planning to make myself something after this episode anyway. It’s really no problem.”

Félix then sat down on a chair at the kitchen table and watched with interest as Marinette mixed the ingredients, heated the pan and took one toast after another out of the toaster to pile them on a plate. After she had drenched three pieces in the mixture of eggs and milk—which did not look appetizing at all—and put them into the heated pan she turned around to him.

“Have you never made French Toast before?” she asked, obviously amused.

“No, and I also never saw anyone make it before. Now that I think about it, I think it has been a few years since I last had some.”

He almost had to laugh at the scandalized look Marinette was throwing him.

“Maybe the toast _got lost_ in the kitchen somewhere,” he added which made Marinette snort. He just hoped she would not tell Adrien of it. If his brother found out that he had punned, he would never let Félix live it down.

“So, you never made French Toast, ever?” Félix was not sure whether she asked for clarification or just because she didn’t know how to otherwise keep the conversation going. Maybe even both.

“I have never made anything edible, period.”

It was hard to hold back a snort of laughter when Marinette turned to look at him as if he had grown a second head and, in the end, he did not manage to fully hold back his amused grin either.

“Alright, come here then,” she said and pointed at the spot next to her with the spatula. Félix blinked.

_What?_

“I’ll teach you how to make French Toast.”

_What!?_

“That is a horrible idea,” he said instead but walked over to her anyways.

“It’s not hard. All you have to do is flip the toast until it’s ready.”

Félix had grown up with stories of Unseelie faeries becoming literally _undone_ by practicing craft. Then again, those had been stories Adrien and him had been told by their mother to keep them out of the kitchen and away from their father’s drawing supplies. By now he knew that due to his human heritage he had nothing to fear. He would _not_ die from _flipping a toast_!

“…” Félix still hoped that staring at the toast in the pan would suffice for now.

 

Turns out it didn’t. Marinette quickly handed him a second spatula and then proceeded to instruct him how to flip a toast with it. The result was more than just pitiful. Félix stopped counting how often he had flipped a toast over the pan’s border and in the end, he was sure that they had probably taken twice as long as it would have taken Marinette on her own to make the French Toast. He could not deny that it had been fun though.

Sitting on the sofa and watching Doctor Who while eating French Toast he had _helped_ making was strangely satisfying as well. He felt as if he had _earned_ this.

The day continued in a similar fashion. Marinette and Félix commented on the show while watching it and from time to time, Marinette would pick up her sketchbook to note ideas down or even make a few rough sketches. It was a different kind of peaceful than the previous afternoon, which they have spent in silence, but it was peaceful regardless.

They were watching an especially tense scene when Tom came upstairs in the early afternoon to make himself a sandwich. He made both of them jump with his entrance, which he, on the other hand, found absolutely hilarious. When Marinette suggested helping out in the bakery for her father, he brushed the idea aside, telling her to stay with Felix—though not before mentioning that the help wouldn't be welcomed.

With the promise of free baked goods added into the mix, Felix took advantage of the latter offer and left in the early evening with two chocolate croissants and a piece of strawberry cake in tow. All of it for Adrien of course. Carrying the heavy paper bag while being a cat and manoeuvring it through one of the bathroom windows was harder than he had thought though and he hoped that the cake had not suffered too much.

Adrien, who was righteously mad at Félix, was luckily very easy to placate with the bag from the bakery. It was also good to hear that their father had not given Adrien any punishment for Félix’s _bad_ behaviour. He was actually surprised since he had half-expected to find Adrien in a bell-collar again.

 

Early the next day, Félix left for the bakery before his father could catch him—and he also came prepared.

“Félix, with all due respect: You are crazy.” Marinette delivered that line in a deadpan tone but she looked like she was about to fall over in shock.

“It’s just so father doesn’t track Adrien’s credit card,” Félix said with a shrug as he still held the bundle of notes out for Marinette to take.

“B-but, this is a fortune! I can’t take that!”

It was? _Huh, interesting_.

“It’s just three thousand euros.”

“ _Just!?_ ” she screeched in disbelief. Well, apparently it was a lot in her eyes. He would have to remember that.

“I know he’s a model, but we will be looking for inconspicuous outfits here, not a made-to-measure suit! The stuff we’ll buy will be relatively cheap.” She gave the stack of notes a significant look.

“Well, probably _just_ cheap in your understanding of monetary value” She huffed before begrudgingly taking it. Félix could not hold back the small victorious grin at that.

“Just so we’re clear: I will give Adrien the money and he can do with it whatever he wants. It’s his after all. I still don’t get why you’re giving it to _me_ in the first place.”

“Because Adrien will probably be so excited he will forget it altogether,” Félix shrugged. “Just remind him that you have cash and he shouldn’t use his credit card, then you’ll be fine.”

Holding the money, Marinette shook her head in disbelief, mumbling something about rich kids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is not written yet and I have some uni work ahead of me, so that could still take a while. I hope to finish it soon though! ;W;
> 
> * * *
> 
> Oh my god, I almost forgot to mention it: my friend and beta-reader Queenie (the one with the model contest I told you of in the last update) drew fanart for this story and I'm still squeeing over it. Go check it out, it's so cute! <333  
> http://fav.me/dcoyzsp  
> http://fav.me/dcqfv0n


	11. Shopping Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien and Marinette finally go on that shopping trip! ;D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took way longer than it should have taken me. With 9.7k words it's also the longest chapter yet. Like, what? I swear, these things have a life of their own! Especially Adrien. He is very stubborn in ruining all plans I have by not following them and just doing whatever he wants. That darn cat. :'D  
> Thanks _a lot_ to [MiniMinou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniMinou/pseuds/MiniMinou) for beta-reading this chapter for me and for helping me improve it! <3 It has been an honour, your highness! c':  
>  Also thanks [FlyLu](https://www.deviantart.com/flylu/) and [Zai](https://www.deviantart.com/132364/) for keeping me sane and discussing "Adrien on fire" and other interesting synonyms with me. It was... _an experience_ :'D

“What will you do today?” Adrien asked as he donned the outfit Félix had helped him pick. Marinette had given his brother a list the previous day with suggestions on what Adrien could wear and it was a life saver. Which did not mean that he wasn’t still jealous of Félix for spending so much time with Marinette while he was stuck at photoshoots and classes all by his lonesome.

“Most likely reading a book,” Félix replied with a shrug.

“Here?”

“Of course not. There are several quiet public places in Paris after all.”

“And yet you keep returning to the bakery,” Adrien had a teasing grin while he did his best to make his hair look ruffled but still presentable.

“The company there is…interesting.”

“Coming from you, that’s a compliment.”

“Credit where it is due. They are also good bakers.”

“I like how this is more of an afterthought for you while the first thought was Marinette. Admit it, you’re warming up to her,” Adrien said with an excited voice. He wouldn’t lie, having seen his brother show a partial dislike towards the girl at first had hurt a bit. He was glad that they were on the same page again.

“I will admit that she is not dull like most human company tends to be.”

“Just remember that I found her first!”

At that, Félix gave him a flat look which made Adrien pause in his tries to make himself look as inconspicuous as possible.

“What?”

“Do you have any idea how awful that sounded in human terms? You really have to work on your phrasing.”

“Wait, it did? Smelt it!” Adrien’s curse was in earnest. Messing up human and faerie ways of speaking was a bad habit of his and he hated when it happened. He was used to smiling for the camera and could make polite small talk, but human friendships were new to him. That included casual, friendly conversations.

What he _did_ know, however, was the faerie game of ‘mine and yours’. A way to perceive the world as the things that belonged to you and those that didn’t. Not more and not less. As far as the Court was concerned, humans were up for takes in that game.

“How would you say it then?” Adrien asked, a little miffed.

“I would not say it at all. Marinette is not a possession to be owned. Whether you like it or not, you _will_ have to share her with others.”

“Tell that to the Court,” Adrien muttered darkly.

Despite Félix’s assurances that Marinette was safe, he was still worried about her. All it would take was an unlucky coincidence for a fair one to notice her and take her as theirs. Acting human did not bring anything when the person you did it for would be stolen away by your own kind eventually. He needed to lay some sort of claim on her, if only for his own peace of mind.

Adrien’s ear flicked when he heard a sound from the hall outside. Nathalie was approaching.

“Ringing iron bells,” Félix cursed and quickly locked the doors. Meanwhile Adrien was scrambling to collect his things.

“I thought my schedule is cleared for the day,” he lamented while trying to find his other shoe.

“Probably some last-minute thing father deemed necessary,” Félix said and hissed when there was a knock. He gave the door a murderous glare.

“Adrien, there is—” Nathalie started but then halted as she noticed that she could not enter the room.

“Please open up, your father wishes to see you.”

“He wishes for a lot of things. Tell him he should be careful with what he wishes from a _Sidhe_!” Félix called back with his tail angrily lashing behind him.

Adrien still did not know what their father had said to him on Monday, but whatever it was, it had Félix angrier with him than usual. At the slightest mention of him, Félix would hiss or do something else that illustrated his clear displeasure. He was also not being subtle about hammering down the point that neither of them was human and Adrien was not sure if he was bothered or glad about that.

Without even waiting for a reply, Félix opened a window and shifted.

“Hurry up before father gets the grand idea to use the security system,” he hissed while perching on the open window frame in his cat form.

“Father will not be happy about this,” Adrien winced when he shifted and jumped outside, knowing the way around security cameras and over the mansion wall by heart.

“Father is never happy about anything, so what does it matter?” Félix shot back.

“You are not the one who ended up wearing a bell-collar for three days!” Adrien hissed.

Félix winced at that. “You’re right, I’m sorry. I promise to curse him if he tries something like that again.”

“Why not just do what he says and not have to think about repercussions?”

“Because we are of the _Sidhe_. Obeying humans is beneath us.”

“You’re starting to sound like Chloé,” Adrien muttered and missed Félix’s frown.

 

 

“What do you think? Do I look inconspicuous enough?” Adrien asked as he stood in the Dupain-Cheng’s living room and watched Marinette descend the stairs from her room with a bag at her side. She gave his outfit a critical look.

“Well, you’re still wearing designer clothes, but they look ordinary enough to not attract attention.”

“Sorry, I only own designer clothes,” he said with a sheepish smile which made Marinette roll her eyes to the heavens and shake her head.

“Well, this is what we’re going to change today. Félix gave me _three thousand_ euros yesterday so that you don’t have to use your credit card.” Another eye roll at that.

“Is that going to be enough?” Adrien asked, growing a little worried. Wrong thing to say.

“Just what is it with you two and money?!” Marinette exclaimed in exasperation and gave him a deadpan look. “I have never owned that much money in my entire life and I still manage to dress myself, don’t I?”

“Oh…I’m sorry. I did not mean to offend you.” He winced. This was going to be a minefield.

“I’m not offended, just baffled,” Marinette assured him with a smile before she bent down to put on her flats.

“And just so we’re clear: all of that is _your_ money, so you spend it on whatever you like. I will just give you fashion advice and nothing more.”

“That works for me.”

“Alright, then let’s go,” Marinette said with a grin that seemed to hold a flicker of nervousness. Why was she nervous? Was there something about the prospect of shopping that scared her? Adrien sure hoped not. He would feel horrible if he would drag her into something she did not like. The whole shopping trip had been his idea after all.

 

While on their way through the city to Marinette’s favoured shopping centre, Adrien tried his very best to look like a normal person. He was very aware how exactly he was unlike one after all. The catlike gait, his a little _too_ smooth movements, were usually not a worry of his. They were actually very desired in the fashion world, so he fit in perfectly. Out on the street, though, such people were rare and stood out.

He was tempted to use an extra strong glamour on himself so peoples’ eyes would wander over him without really seeing him. If he did that though, Marinette might be influenced by his magic too and then wouldn’t be able to find him again if they happened to split up. Furthermore, he had promised Félix to not use magic of any kind anymore while he was around Marinette. The task was more difficult to accomplish than he had thought it would be.

Being inconspicuous was hard.

“Did you make those clothes yourself?” Adrien asked when he could not take the silence anymore.

“No, they’re store-bought. Just minimally altered, but that’s not really noteworthy,” Marinette said and fiddled with the hem of her shirt. A nervous habit as Adrien had found out.

“Why? Your designs are amazing!”

“Thank you, but they’re not quite good enough to be worn in public.”

“Let’s agree to disagree there. I think you should wear them whenever you want. Trust me, I’m a model.”

“Yeah, a model who needs my help to find an inconspicuous outfit because he can’t put one together himself.” Her teasing voice made Adrien all giddy again. Bantering with Marinette was a rare joy.

“Touché. So, what are we buying first?” He asked excitedly and struggled to hold back a happy wiggle.

“Whatever we find first. Preferably something that cannot be mistaken for designer clothing but still looks good.”

“I’ll trust your taste on that one.”

“I know.”

“Do you think we will find something with cats on it?” Adrien asked with sparkly eyes.

Marinette threw him an amused smile.

“Maybe. You really like cats, don’t you?”

“They’re the best!”

“I think my favourite animals are probably hamsters,” Marinette said thoughtfully and missed the look of absolute betrayal on Adrien’s face.

“Traitor,” he muttered.

 

 

The moment they entered the shopping centre, Adrien felt like he had stepped into a different world. While the streets outside were hot and humid on this sunny summer day, the building was a lot cooler, no doubt due to air conditioning. He breathed a sigh of relief as the colder air washed over him—a reminder that _hot_ and _sunny_ did not agree very well with his Unseelie nature. After all, his domain was the night.

Looking around at the colourful variety of shops and the mixture of different songs that drifted out of each of them, he could not feel further from _Faerie_ if he tried. A shopping centre was probably one of the least fey places in existence after all and he would enjoy the human experience of wandering through it to the fullest!

What then caught his undivided attention though were the escalators. He had seen escalators before of course and even had had the pleasure to ride them, but those experiences were few and years ago.

“Can we go up?” He therefore immediately asked and excitedly pointed at the moving stairs. Judging by Marinette’s raised eyebrow but amused smile, he was being weird about _normal_ things again. An embarrassed blush spread on his face and he stopped giddily jumping up and down.

“I mean…err…lead the way,” he said, a sheepish smile stretching on his face. So much for acting normal and blending in.

“There are some good shops on the first floor we can go to if you want,” Marinette said, not commenting on Adrien’s weird behaviour at all.

_By Danu, please tell me I didn’t accidentally charm her!_

“Sounds great.” Why did his voice suddenly sound squeaky?

_Calm down, Adrien. It’s just Marinette and it’s just a shopping centre. Nothing to be nervous about. Just act like a normal person._

 

Stepping on the escalator was definitely harder than it should have been. Shamefully, Adrien had to admit that while he possessed the grace of a cat, he was not very acquainted with moving surfaces. Keeping his balance wasn’t an issue but figuring out where to best put his feet proved to be a problem. Should he just climb an escalator like he would climb a normal set of stairs or should he stay on the spot and wait until he arrived at the top? He saw people do both, which did not help him decide on what was best.

Every time he encountered one of the moving contraptions, his body seemed to forget how to work. Which brought him to his current predicament.

Not being able to decide whether standing still or walking was the best option, he was caught in a bizarre middle thing of both, with each of his feet being three steps apart, which resulted in an awkward split. Meanwhile he held on to the rails on either side for dear life.

“Adrien, are you okay?” Marinette asked from in front of him but by the way her shoulders shook and how her lips tried hard not to stretch into a grin, he knew that she had trouble containing her laughter. He did not need to know much about humans to know that his current position was _not_ how one correctly rode an escalator.

“I’m fine, just…riding an escalator.”

His pride was in shambles even before Marinette snorted and started to laugh about his dilemma as quietly as she could.

When they eventually arrived at the top and he looked back, he saw several people watching him with amused expressions on their faces. Great. He was not even at the mall for three minutes and he already managed to get unwanted attention. It was ironic how his non-human antics and not his looks had been what garnered it.

“Can we go into one of the shops so I can hide in a changing room for the next hour?” Adrien asked pitifully while covering his blushing face with his hands.

“Now don’t be a crybaby. It wasn’t _that_ bad,” Marinette said with a chuckle. “I once had a shopping bag rip open while I was on the escalator. _That_ was a mess.”

Adrien moved his hands aside to look at the noirette who just gave him a shrug as if to say ‘it happens.’

“But hiding is still a good idea, since the last thing you need is people staring at you,” she added and proceeded to gently grab one of his arms and drag him into a nearby clothing store.

Adrien was a little disappointed when she let go as soon as he starting following her by himself, but he still counted the small gesture as an improvement. Or was it normal to grab someone’s arm and drag them around? Marinette sure had not seemed to like it when he had done that to her previously. Granted, he had dragged her into a shady alley and not into a clothing shop so maybe that was rather it. Regardless of its meaning in a human sense, to him it still meant that they were growing closer.

While coming to that particular realisation and still getting over the embarrassment from the escalator incident, Adrien somehow failed to realise he had entered a shop until Marinette and him had already walked through half of it.

He had never been in a _normal_ clothing shop before, only ever in designer ones, mostly from his father’s brand. The difference could not have been clearer.

While the designer shops practically _screamed_ ‘high society’ and ‘propriety’, this shop was more colourful, more chaotic but still in some sort of order so people could find their way around. There were also a lot more people here than there usually were in designer shops, creating a background noise with their conversations that added to the pop music that blared out of several speakers.

Adrien _loved_ it!

“Do you mostly wear plain or printed shirts?” Marinette asked while strategically scanning the male wear options this shop presented.

“Uh, I’d say plain. I never get to choose my clothes for myself.” Which made this entire trip even more exciting. Adrien would finally get to choose clothing he _wanted_ to wear! For when his father was not looking of course.

“Then we should probably go with more colourful designs. The further it is from your usual look the better.”

 

With that simple objective at hand, the two of them started browsing through the shop, halting at every piece of clothing that seemed to fit what they were searching for. Marinette would then very critically consider it, before either hanging it back on the rack or adding it to the hangers she held in one hand. After not more than twenty minutes, they had already managed to gather quite a wide selection of things for Adrien to try on.

Lots of the pieces fit very well, while others were too tight or too baggy. As a model, he knew at least _that_ much. Deciding on what he would keep or not was something he left up to Marinette since she was the fashion expert after all. Yammering over the loss of some of the pieces he would have liked to have kept did not help either—Marinette always found a way to convince him of the impracticality of them.

In the end, they managed to find a decent pair of jeans and three shirts which they both agreed on. Only when Adrien paid for the clothes did he notice something.

“Hey Marinette?” He asked after the cashier had handed him his bag and he had thanked the woman with a friendly smile and a nod.

“Hmm?” The noirette said absentmindedly while studying a grey cardigan.

“Don’t you want to pick out clothes for yourself too? I mean, I know this shopping trip is mainly about getting outfits for me, but that doesn’t mean you can’t buy anything for yourself.”

“It’s alright. I don’t have much money right now anyway since I just spent it on fabrics,” Marinette replied and let the sleeve she had observed drop. Adrien frowned.

“I can buy the clothes for you, you know? Money is not really a problem for me after all.” Marinette shuffled uncomfortably at that proposition.

“No, that…wouldn’t feel right.”

“Then how about you just try on the things you like and get inspired by seeing yourself in the clothes?” He asked with a grin as they exited the shop and went into the next one right next to it.

“My mother told me that she and father used to do that when they were younger. She would just try on all sorts of things without buying them, because it was fun and father would design something inspired by it when he liked the form or colour of some of the pieces.”

“Hmm, that _does_ sound fun actually.” Marinette tapped her chin in thought and let her view drift to the left to a rack with various blouses.

“But we’ll first find another pair of jeans for you and at least one plain shirt, just to mix things up. Maybe we could combine it with a jacket,” she mused and drifted off, her eyes set on her goal, which currently was a bunch of folded pairs of jeans in various colours and variations. It was quite enchanting to watch her while she was in her element, sorting through piles of clothes and finding what looked best. Most of the time it almost seemed like magic to him, to be so at ease with a task he struggled with.

When Marinette was about to shoo him into a changing room again, he caught her eyes lingering on a blue shirt that fell in waves form the hanger it was on. He stopped and eyed it curiously.

“Do you want to try it on?”

Marinette hesitated, apparently torn between shoving him into the changing room and taking a closer look at the blue shirt.

“I don’t know. It doesn’t look like it would suit me very well.”

Adrien did not need to be a _Cat Sidhe_ to know that she was lying. She _wanted_ to try it on but for some reason she did not dare to.

“Tell you what, we’ll _both_ try it on!” Adrien said and snatched the shirt in his size from the rack before Marinette could protest.

“Let’s see who looks better in it,” he added with a wink and then disappeared into the changing room, quickly drawing the curtain shut.

A few seconds of silence passed and then he heard an overdramatic sigh.

“You’re ridiculous,” she said fondly and then he heard the curtain of the cubicle next to his being drawn shut.

_Oh, if only you knew just how true that is._

Adrien grinned to himself. This was fun. Trying on things just to prove a point to Marinette instead of ending up buying them amused him. It was a harmless form of being out of the ordinary but still—hopefully—within bounds of the acceptable. Being himself among humans. Such occasions certainly were rare.

He quietly snickered to himself after he had donned the shirt that had definitely not been designed with a male body in mind. His reflection looked ridiculous.

“Are you changed?” Adrien asked, eager to see how the shirt would look on Marinette.

“In a sec!” Was the answer he received. Only a few moments later he heard the curtain from the neighbouring cubicle be drawn back, which also made him emerge from his one.

His first thought was that she looked absolutely _stunning._ Of course he already knew that, but this outfit really worked especially well for her. Marinette usually wore simple T-Shirts or other nice-looking, but not really _extraordinary_ things. Like as if she tried very hard to not stand out at all, but rather preferred blending in the background. This shirt, though, practically screamed ‘Look at me! I’m beautiful!’

Only a moment after he stepped out, Marinette started laughing hysterically.

_Oh, right. I’m wearing the shirt too._

“Ok, I’ll admit that this looks better on me. The cut doesn’t quite work for you.”

Adrien put his hand on his heart, pretending to be hurt.

“How cruel! I thought we were friends, Marinette,” Adrien said with an exasperated pout. She rolled her eyes in return, a grin still playing on her lips.

“I’m here for style advice, remember?”

“A very _purr_ tty style advisor. You should consider buying that shirt after all.” The faint blush on her cheeks was not lost to him and even though she was clearly flustered, she seemed happy. At times like these he was happy to be able to pick up on other people’s emotions so easily.

“It’s too expensive,” Marinette lamely replied but turned to look at herself in the mirror of her cubicle. “Even though it looks better than I thought it would. The way it falls at the front really works surprisingly well for me.”

“If you don’t want to buy it, then I’ll just have to buy both of them,” Adrien replied with a mischievous grin, which made Marinette whirl around to him again.

“You wouldn’t.”

“Hmm, wouldn’t I?” He asked in a teasing tone as he disappeared into the changing room again to try on the actual pieces of clothing they were in the shop for.

“Oh my god, you _would_ ,” Marinette groaned. “Seriously Adrien, you don’t have to buy this, let alone both of them. What would you even do with yours?”

“Wear it?”

Marinette’s tone shifted to incredulity. “And that helps you look inconspicuous, how?”

“Who said I would wear it when I want to be inconspicuous?” Oh, the pranks he could pull on his father with that!

“It’s your money, so you buy it if you want, but that will just mean that you’ll own two girl shirts you cannot wear.”

“Well, you could borrow it unconditionally. That way it stays mine and you can wear it without feeling bad about it.”

A moment of silence followed in which he heard Marinette take a breath as if she was about to say something, but didn’t.

“Still,” she eventually said in a pouting tone, apparently finding no good counter-argument.

“View it as compensation for that time I tried to gift you a leaf.”

“I really don’t need compensation for that, Adrien.”

“Marinette,” he whined, “Why won’t you let me make you a gift?” He was joking but at the same time he also felt a little hurt that she would not accept anything he wanted to gift her. Blame it on his faerie nature, but it was of utmost importance to him that she would keep something he had given her.

“Because we’re here for you, not for me and I don’t need a gift.”

“Nuh-uh,” Adrien said as he emerged from behind the curtain again, this time wearing a black shirt that had the text ‘You don’t speak French? Baguette out of my life’ written across the front.

“We are here for _fun_.” He held up the blue shirt with an impish grin. “And it would be a shame if I wouldn’t bring Félix a little souvenir.”

“Now, let’s don’t be mean,” Marinette said in a chiding tone. She took the blue shirt from him and hung it back where it belonged. For a moment Adrien thought he might have taken it too far with the mischief, but then she started skimming through the shirts.

“With Félix’s gloomy attitude, the blue would just look sad on him,” she said with a grin and then pulled out a grey variation of the same shirt. “A warm grey would fit him much better.”

Adrien’s grin grew as she shook her head and snickered.

“Félix will hate us.”

“Worth it!”

 

 

As the afternoon stretched on and the two young teens bought more outfits—well, _Adrien_ bought them while Marinette helped pick them—they started to grow hungry. Adrien’s idea to go eat at the Italian Restaurant in the shopping centre was turned down by Marinette in favour of getting crêpes, especially when he admitted that he hadn’t had one for ages.

Shopping bags in both of his hands, he studied the selection of fillings intently and eventually decided on what was advertised as a ‘Giotto Crêpe.’ It turned out to be a delicious mixture of caramel and nuts. Marinette got a strawberry chocolate one.

They sat down on one of the benches in a more secluded area and were watching the people that went along their daily business. Most were on fun shopping trips like the two of them, while others seemed to have specific goals in mind. Adrien watched families with small children with particular fondness, finding joy in seeing someone else living the childhood he had been deprived off.

“Sorry if this sounds weird, but is this your first time at a mall?” Marinette asked after she returned from throwing away the napkins their crêpes had come in.

“Not really, but it has been a while since I’ve last been at one. That was with Chloé and she mainly let me carry her things so I couldn’t really look around for stuff I liked. You could say that this is the first time I’ve been shopping for myself.”

“How are you enjoying shopping for yourself then?” Marinette asked with a grin, clearly focusing on the positive, though Adrien had clearly seen her make a face when he had mentioned Chloé.

“It’s amazing! I can just buy whatever I want and eat whatever I want.” Adrien enthusiastically took one of the bags and rummaged through it. “And now that I have _normal_ clothes, I can visit you without much problem!”

For some strange reason, Marinette seemed surprised at that.

“You…want to visit me?”

Oh, maybe he was not welcome after all. He could feel his ears drooping under his glamour and concentrated very hard to not let them accidentally slip through— _that_ would be hard to explain.

“You said I could come even when you’re closed,” Adrien said and tried not to let his disappointment show. In reality he probably looked like a kicked puppy…or kitten.

“Yes, of course you can,” Marinette hurried to say and started waving her hands around, “I mean, you’re welcome any time! I just didn’t expect you to want to hang out with me more, is all.”

Adrien blinked. “Why wouldn’t I want that?”

“Because I’m…uh…just me? I’m not really anyone special.”

Marinette was clearly delusional.

“You’re special to me,” Adrien said without hesitation and blushed as he realised how much heavier the words sounded when he actually said them out loud.

“I mean, you are the first… _normal_ friend I have ever made. Someone I don’t have to overly formal around and where I actually have a say in how we’re spending our time together. It’s always a lot of fun with you, like going shopping today or playing Mario Kart the other day!”

Marinette blushed but had a small smile playing on her lips.

“T-thank you?”

“You’re welcome!” Adrien said with a wide grin and fished the cat pun shirt he had found in one of the shops out of the bag. It was the only item of clothing he had purchased without Marinette’s approval and he didn’t regret it at all.

 _“It’s_ purr _fect, Marinette!”_ He has said and pouted at her until she had given in and reminded him that it was his money after all.

“I might lend this to Félix. It’s practically his default mood,” Adrien snickered as the read the text on the shirt again: _you’ve CAT to be KITTEN me right MEOW_.

“You seem to lend out your clothes a lot,” Marinette remarked.

“No, just to Félix usually. We share the same wardrobe though, so that doesn’t really count.” Suddenly his eyes lit up with an idea.

“Hey, Marinette?” Adrien started bouncing in place excitedly and she eyed him warily, probably already catching on that he was up to something. This was by far not the first time that day where he had proposed a crazy idea after all.

“What did you think of _now_?” She asked in a deadpan tone, though the smile never left her face.

“Father always throws away the clothes that don’t fit us anymore, so next time he plans to do that, I can just give them all to you instead! You can experiment with them and also study them since they are designer clothes. What do you think?”

Adrien loved how Marinette’s eyes lit up at the offer and it seemed like several ideas already raced through her head.

“That would be amazing!” She gushed. “I could get my hand on real quality fabric and make myself an outfit with it and—” she stopped abruptly and grinned at him sheepishly.

“That probably sounded weird. Using your old clothes to make myself an outfit.”

“This is exactly why I’m giving them to you. Whatever you end up doing will probably look much better than the original anyway.”

Marinette chuckled. “I doubt that, but thanks for the boost of confidence.” She thoughtfully looked around.

“I think we have enough clothes for you for now, do you want to go somewhere else before we head home?”

“We could just walk around and then go in any shop that looks interesting,” Adrien already picked up his bags. There were a couple of shops he had seen in passing but they had not gone into them since they had concentrated on clothes shops so far.

 

This is how the two of them ended up in between rows of cheap things no one really needed but were tempting to buy anyway. There were very fake looking plastic flowers, low-quality notebooks of all sizes, picture frames, a lot of decorative articles and all kinds of other stuff.

Adrien eyed a huge pile of boxes with motifs on them and asked himself how he could excuse buying unusually large numbers of the bigger ones for himself and Félix. After all, boxes were the best! Before he could decide on which ones to get and how to actually get them home, Marinette called his name from further down the aisle.

He passed a shelf with all sorts of candles and had to suppress the reflex to wrinkle his nose. Some of them had very weird scents and his sensitive sense of smell picked up nuances that were probably not intended for human noses in this intensity. He hurried a little more after that and eventually stopped in front of a corner full of crafting materials, such as plastic beads, fake feathers and even those funny looking eyes with rolling pupils.

“We could make lucky charms out of those!” Marinette said as she skimmed through the various coloured beads.

“Lucky Charms?” The only thing that came to mind at that were iron horseshoes or those _smelted_ clovers. Both of those probably found their origin with faeries, while one was to ward them off and the other was to uncover their glamour. Neither was advisable to use. Hearing Marinette happily talk about making her own lucky charm therefore understandably made him nervous.

“Yes, I always used to make those when I was a kid when I wasn’t making necklaces or bracelets. It’s just a band with beads that you keep in your pocket and as long as you have it, you’ll have good luck. The trick is to believe in it.”

 _Oh, so it isn’t real._ That was reassuring.

When Marinette suddenly produced such a lucky charm from her pocket, Adrien was surprised by how simple it looked. Just a red string with seven differently shaped and coloured beads on it. Seven was a magic number, though if it really was _lucky_ was another question.

Seven grains of wheat on a four-leaved clover to see the fae. Seven points to a star to have a powerful magic glyph. Seven years to rescue your loved ones from Faerie.

Those were only a few things that came to mind but neither of them ended particularly good. Then again, if Marinette wanted to use seven plastic beads and a string and call it a lucky charm, then what was the harm?

_I’m overthinking this again._

“This is very cute,” Adrien said eventually, dispersing all thoughts of faeries and bad luck.

“I won most games ever since I started carrying it around with me.”

“Wait, so _that’s_ why I couldn’t beat you at Mario Kart?!” He _needed_ one of those lucky charms, even if he had to buy all beads in the shop for it!

Marinette smirked— _smirked!_ —at him.

“Well, if you make yourself an own one you _might_ have a small chance. No promises though.”

Oh, it was _on!_

“Which beads do I need?”

“The ones you like best,” Marinette said and put the lucky charm back into her pocket.

“But there are _so many_ I like!”

“Try to narrow it down to seven. You’re probably only gonna use them for the lucky charm anyway and then they’ll be left to collect dust.”

“Can’t I make several?” Was that a custom? You could only make one lucky charm and then you could never make one again?

“Sure, but what would you need several for?”

His response was immediate. “To gift them to people of course! Everyone can use a little bit of luck after all.”

This was perfect! He could enchant them with _real_ good luck on Samhain and then just give them out without having to fear that anyone would notice it. He could even give one to his father! Maybe then he would finally understand that faerie magic could be useful.

Marinette and him then spent the next ten minutes discussing various different beads and eventually managed to reduce Adrien’s prior selection of twenty-three to just eleven kinds. Three of them were cat-themed and he was especially fond of the black, green and white beads. He would definitely make a lucky charm for Félix out of those!

Halfway through selecting the beads Marinette had gone and fetched a shopping basket so Adrien had an easier time carrying his selection of cheap goods around. He could tell by her facepalming after a couple of minutes that she regretted that decision.

By the time they had reached the end of the aisle Adrien had added various different folders and spiral notebooks with cat motives to the basket as well as several other cat themed things he would probably never use. They looked funny though, so why not?

He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the corner full of party supplies, mostly for birthdays. Candles that spelled out ‘happy birthday’, a lot of streamers, balloons as well as paper plates and napkins covered in colourful designs. People bought these things to have a good time. To eat cake from the plates and to blow streamers into each other’s faces. Party hats, that could only be bought in packs of ten each, meant that guests would be present and celebrate whatever party was going to occur together with the one hosting it.

Adrien did not want to complain, but Félix’s and his birthday experiences were basically non-existent so far. Sure, their parents had always celebrated with them, but it was not the same as what he saw on TV. They had always gotten plenty of presents and a huge cake—the best money could buy—but other than that, there had been no real celebration. Their father had always left early, especially in recent years, since their birthday always occurred in or around fashion week when he was most busy. With their mother now gone, this year’s birthday would be an even lonelier one…

“You could just wear one of these when you don’t want to get recognized in the future,” Marinette suddenly said with a snort, pulling him out of his thoughts about birthday parties. She was holding up a pink, glittery mask with black feathers on the side and Adrien was immediately reminded of one photoshoot where he had had to wear such a mask. It had been interesting, to say the least.

“Good idea! That’s even better than the sunglasses!” He eagerly took a black mask with pink feathers, the perfect counterpart to the one Marinette was holding, and held it to his face.

“How do I look?” Adrien asked with a grin.

“You know I was joking, right?” Marinette replied flatly and put her mask back. “If you wear that, you will draw even more attention.”

“Yes, but will anyone recognize me? I don’t think so!”

Two itchy masquerade masks landed in the shopping basket, one black, one pink.

“And if you wear one, people won’t recognize you either.”

His grin was met with another flat expression.

“Really?”

“Yes, really!” Adrien giggled before swiftly moving on to the next aisle.

Yet another picture of a cat drew him in but when he stood in front of it, he just frowned. Cat toys. Cheap and very unnecessary cat toys. They were all colourful and weird. Give him a string and a box and he’d be happy, as would probably be any other cat. Those things looked like they would fall apart after just minutes of playing with them. What a waste.

“Do you have a cat?” Marinette asked, but he shook his head.

“No, father doesn’t allow pets, especially not cats. Some cat always manages to sneak in though.” Or _two_ cats, to be more precise.

“Oh, so you get visited by a stray too?”

“Too?” Adrien asked. Was a cat sneaking into her house on a regular basis? He had not smelled any cat earlier.

“Yeah, a cute black one who sometimes drops in. Maybe he would like those.”

Adrien was glad that Marinette was currently busy inspecting a grey-furred atrocity that these cat toy manufacturers probably called a ‘mouse’, because there was no way to explain the blush that was undoubtedly spreading on his face.

 _He_ was the cat and she had called him _cute!_

“I don’t think any cat would like those,” he eventually said when he was sure that his blush had died down. “It looks like they would break easily.”

“True. And this cheap stuff could be toxic too.”

Oh, most definitely. It smelled very weird and unappetizing.

“They might be horrible cat toys, but they are still good for pranking people who are afraid of mice.”

“You really like playing pranks, don’t you?” Marinette asked as Adrien stuffed the most horrible looking toy mice he could find into his shopping basket.

“It’s fun, so why not? The reactions are usually hilarious!” It was at least one way to satisfy the part of him that was a mischievous trickster.

Three cat mugs, a cat-shaped picture frame and a pair of fluffy cat slippers later, the two of them were on their way to the checkout. Marinette had shook her head in disbelief when she had taken a look at all his frankly ridiculous purchases and called him a crazy cat person. Yet another more fitting endearment than she probably realised. Adrien just found his newest acquisitions hilariously ironic.

They were on their way out when Adrien noticed something he had not seen when they first entered the shop: a display stand with umbrellas.

“Did you get a new umbrella yet?” He asked while looking through the different colours and patterns that were available.

“Not yet,” she admitted and started looking through the stand too. “I probably should buy myself a new one.”

A wide grin spread on Adrien’s face when he suddenly found _the most perfect_ umbrella he had ever seen.

“No, you won’t,” he said as he grabbed all three of the available umbrellas of this kind and ran back to the cash register that was still empty. The bored-looking cashier just wordlessly took the money Adrien was practically throwing at him and muttered ‘have a nice day’ as he handed back the change.

Adrien put two of the umbrellas into one of his shopping bags and handed the third one to Marinette.

“Here you go. It was kind of my fault that you don’t have your old one anymore after all.”

“You really didn’t—” Marinette started to protest but then noticed the design on the preview picture.

“Really Adrien?”

“Isn’t it _meow_ velous? Now you, Félix and I have the same umbrella!” Said umbrella was black and had cat ears as well as cat eyes. Something in his face must have changed her mind because Marinette suddenly smiled.

“Thank you, that’s very sweet of you.”

He beamed. It was the first gift of his she had accepted since the shirt from earlier still only counted as a loan. No enchantments, no tricks, just a simple—but awesomely cat-themed—umbrella given to her in a simple way. Why couldn’t all things be so easy?

When they eventually left the shopping centre and began their walk back to the bakery—Marinette had managed to convince him to _not_ wear the masquerade mask after all—Adrien felt a little exhausted but still happy and accomplished. He wore the cat pun shirt he had bought earlier, having changed into it shortly before they left, and carried three of his overall six shopping bags. Marinette had insisted to carry half of them, no matter how often he said he could handle it. He was still glad for it though since the plastic straps had started to painfully dig into his hands.

 

 

The first thing they did when they entered the living room was to let themselves fall on the sofa and not get up for a few minutes.

“That was exhausting but so much fun,” Adrien eventually said with a blissful grin and Marinette turned her head to look at him with the same expression.

“It really was. I don’t even know when I have last been on a shopping trip like this. Must have been with Nino over a year or so ago.”

Ah, this Nino person. Adrien had wondered when she would bring him up. Despite a nasty little bit of jealousy, he was still curious if Marinette managed to repair the friendship with her old friend.

“Nino?” Adrien asked, since he technically should not know about him.

“Oh, uhm…Nino is a friend of mine. We’ve been friends for ages but he’s been…busy lately.” A slight lie, but he would let it slip. It probably wasn’t something she wanted to talk to him about.

“Oh, that reminds me!” she suddenly said and sat up. Adrien watched with curiosity as she took her phone out of her bag.

“I promised to give him a call when you were around since he wanted to get to know you. Would that be okay?” She nervously bit her lip at the question and Adrien considered. It was risky to have a lot of people know that _Adrien Agreste_ frequented the Dupain-Cheng bakery and hung out with Marinette, but since this Nino person already knew, there was probably no further harm to be done.

“Sure,” he therefore said and still stayed wary. Marinette and her parents were the only humans he talked to regularly outside of his family and he still was anything but smooth most of the time. He hoped that he could act _human_ enough for a little phone call.

“Don’t worry, Nino is very nice and laid back. He’s in Morocco right now but I’m sure you two can meet when he comes back next month,” Marinette explained while the phone was audibly dialling. Adrien had to admit that the prospect of yet another human friend sounded great. Maybe that way he also wouldn’t have to share Marinette with Nino but could just hang out with the both of them at the same time. It was perfect!

“Hey ‘Nette! How’s it going?” A voice suddenly said. By the way Marinette held the phone Adrien could tell that it was a video call, so he shuffled closer to see better.

“Good. We just came back from an _interesting_ shopping trip.”

“We?” Nino asked and Marinette held the phone so camera picked up Adrien as well. He gave the tanned boy a shy wave. It was weird to first meet someone on a video call.

“Oooooh, _that_ shopping trip. Hi dude! You must be the new model friend Marinette told me about! I’m Nino, nice to meet you.”

Nino had a friendly smile as well as a calm voice and overall seemed like an alright person. Then again, he had expected nothing less from one of Marinette’s friends. She didn’t seem like the type to hang around shady people.

“I’m Adrien,” he said with another little wave. “Also: _New_ model friend? Does she have several?”

The small frown Marinette sent his way was amusing. Nino, on the other hand, started laughing.

“You tell me! I certainly would not know of any more. Has she hidden more pretty blondes from me?”

“Félix sometimes models when he wants to do me a favour but I don’t think that counts. He’s my brother by the way!”

“Did he have to model today too?” Marinette suddenly asked and seemed a little concerned.

“No, I had the day off today, but we both ran away before Nathalie could tell us otherwise. He’s probably in some library to read a book.”

“Yeah, sounds like him.”

“Wait, you had to run away from home on your day off? Why?” Nino asked, seemingly not getting the full picture yet.

“Father often crams in last-minute things, especially when Félix and I have nothing scheduled. Photoshoots, fittings, interviews, classes and other stuff like that.”

“Dude, that’s cruel.”

“It is a little,” Adrien admitted with a wince. Despite him disliking his father’s most recent ways, he still was his _father_ and Adrien didn’t like to talk bad about his family.

“Anyway, do you want to see what we got?” He pulled one of the shopping bags into his lap and started rummaging around in it.

“Sure!” Nino replied and seemed to be equally curious as Adrien was excited.

“Fair warning Nino: Most of the stuff we got are clothes.”

“When I managed to listen to your hour-long rants about cross-stitches, I will survive this too.”

“Rude!”

Adrien snickered at the exchange that seemed not unlike the ones he had with his brother.

He proceeded to show Nino each article of clothing one by one while Marinette seemed to hold herself back from commenting on each piece. By the time he got to the two girl shirts he had bought, she did not seem to be able to hold her commentary back anymore.

“And these ones have a story behind them,” Marinette said with an eye roll while Adrien just mischievously grinned.

“Consider me curious,” Nino said as the sceptically looked at the shirts in question.

“Well, Marinette looked at this shirt,” Adrien said and held up the blue one, “and I asked if she wanted to try it on.”

“And then he guilt-tripped me into it by trying one of those on himself.”

Nino started laughing. “Dude, I hope you took a picture.”

“We didn’t, but I can put this on now and show you if you want!” Adrien said with a grin and held up the grey one while subtly placing the blue one on Marinette’s lap.

“Wait, you bought that for yourself?” Nino exclaimed in amused disbelief and kept on laughing. It was nice to see that Marinette and him were not the only ones who found it hilarious.

“Well, it would be cruel to not get my brother something from the shopping trip.”

“Be careful that you’re not starting a prank war. My little brother and I had one going on for months until he finally gave up.”

“Oh, our prank war started on the day we were born, so don’t worry about that.” Adrien had a hard time to keep his grin to a normal level of amused and mischievous when thinking about the endless many pranks Félix and he had pulled on each other.

When you were a trickster and prankster by nature but had no one to pull the pranks on unless you fancied going to bed early without dessert, you had to pick the only other one available for pranks. Tricking each other had a certain thrill to it too, since the simple pranks were easy to predict and therefore less likely to work. Surprise pranks like buying a girl’s shirt for his brother were usually the best since they were nearly unpredictable. Setting traps was harder most of the time, especially since Félix could smell a trap from miles away.

“Wait, Félix is playing pranks on you?” Marinette asked and Adrien couldn’t hold back a snicker at her incredulous expression. It really must be hard to see the calm and collected Félix as a prankster, but Adrien knew better. It was a side his brother only showed very rarely to strangers and he had a subtlety about it that made it seem almost effortless, blending perfectly well into his character. Adrien himself was a bit more straight-forward about it.

“Yeah, all the time. I give it a few more weeks or months and he’ll start playing pranks on you too. Don’t prank him back without me though, or he’ll take it personally,” he said with a wink.

_Never trick a trickster when you are not one yourself._

“Wow, petty much?” Nino said.

“Yeah, I’m the only exception because I’m his brother.”

“Still, when you’re playing a prank on someone you have to expect being pranked back by them. This is the general rule of pranks,” Nino explained and sounded like he was relying the truths of the universe to them.

_A rule that the fair folk doesn’t play by._

It was not like Adrien feared that Félix could harm Marinette—no, he would never do that. It was rather that he was afraid of the two of them being on bad terms again. Or more specifically Félix getting a dislike for Marinette after he just managed to sort of befriend her. Such a step back would not fare well for anyone involved.

“Speaking of pranking Félix, we also stopped at this awesome shop that had all sorts of cat-themed things. I got _those_ to put in my brother’s bed or on his favourite chair.” Adrien pulled out a handful of these horrible looking toy mice he had bought. Most looked like chunks of dust that had taken on a life of their own and also had exploded at some point.

“Aren’t those cat toys?” Nino asked. Adrien huffed.

“No cat that has any class would ever play with those. They are much better suited for pranks!”

“So, you went into a shop and bought like twenty toy mice. What did the cashier say?” Nino seemed amused by that.

“That’s by far not the only thing he got,” Marinette said with a sigh. “Show him, Adrien.”

The blond couldn’t hold back his enthusiasm as he presented each cat-themed item to Nino like it was a sacred treasure. He then ended his presentation with the masks and the many different beads. Last but not least he took out one of the cat umbrellas, tore off the packaging and then opened it up. He had to admit that he was very pleased with it and even Marinette let out a small giggle when she saw the product in action.

“He got one of those for me too,” she added while Adrien closed the umbrella again.

“Great, so next time it rains you two can pretend that Marinette is the twin instead of your brother.”

“Félix gets an umbrella too, so we could pretend to be triplets!” Adrien said happily. At least _someone_ got the appeal of that plan.

“I doubt that would work, but we can try. Would Félix even voluntarily use that umbrella?” Marinette asked.

“Oh, I’m sure he’ll find it _hiss_ terical.”

“Stop it with the puns already,” she said but the amused smile told another story.

_She likes my puns!_

“Looks like you have a great summer ahead of you,” Nino said and while he looked friendly, there was something observant about him that Adrien could not place. Like he was testing him. If he was, then the _Cat Sidhe_ did not appreciate it.

“Only if I keep ditching photoshoots to go to Marinette’s instead. Which I will probably do. Father has other models he can use that are probably better than a 13-year-old, so it hopefully won’t be _that_ bad for the company.”

“It really sucks that your dad doesn’t even give you real free time in summer. How do these things go when there’s school?”

“Oh, I don’t go to school. Félix and I are home-schooled.”

“Really? That sounds cool though. You can just hang out at home the whole day and do your homework whenever.”

Adrien frowned. “It’s actually very boring and lonely. We don’t see other people our age often because we’re mostly just locked inside the house.”

“Oh. Sorry, dude. I guess I never really thought about it that way.”

“It’s okay. That’s why it’s so great to sneak out and see Marinette! It’s much nicer here than it is at home.”

“Marinette’s place is heaven! Pastries whenever you want them and awesome parents. You really hit the jackpot there,” Nino agreed and Marinette snorted.

“You’re exaggerating,” she argued.

“Nope, not at all.”

“Ah, now I get it. You both just come here for the pastries,” Marinette said.

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“No, that’s not it!”

Adrien looked at Nino, appalled.

“How can you say that? Marinette is so much better than the pastries!”

“Dude, I was joking,” Nino snorted. Marinette, who had been apparently anything but oblivious to Nino’s joking reply to her own sarcastic statement, now turned as red as Adrien did when he looked at her.

_Let the Nuckelavee take me already…_

“Anyway, my aunt is calling. Some mandatory family trip I have to go on.” Nino made a face at that. “I’ll text you later ‘Nette. See you Adrien, and keep sneaking out of your horror house please!”

“Will do!” Adrien said with a grin.

“Don’t feed yourself to the sharks.”

Then only the contact picture was left.

“Why would he feed himself to the sharks?”

Marinette giggled. “It’s an inside joke. The last time we talked he said something about it being so hot down there he would be nothing but fried meat before long and could then be fed to sharks.”

“That’s possible?!” Why would humans even go to such dangerous places?

“No, it isn’t. The worst Nino has to suffer through is a family trip.

“Speaking of fried meat though, I’m starving. _Maman_ is gonna start dinner soon, do you think you can stay that long this time?”

 

Adrien _could_ stay for dinner this time around and it was fantastic! Sabine could cook as well, if not even better, as she could bake and the resulting dish was delicious.

While they had waited for dinner to be ready, Marinette and he had played some video games where she had beat him mercilessly. Even Tom had joined later on, which had led Adrien to win two matches and lose another two.

They also went through the pictures Marinette and Adrien had taken of the outfits Marinette had tried on and planned to design own outfits of. As well as an unflattering video of Adrien Marinette had sneakily taken when he had tried to step on an escalator for the second time that day. It had gone significantly better than the first time, which meant he had tripped and fallen onto the escalator. He had then struggled for half the way to get back up again. All the while Marinette had tried to hide her giggles, though they were very audible on said video.

As the family plus Adrien sat together at the small kitchen table and talked about their day, he never felt left out. All of them were always mindful to include him in their conversation by prompting him to tell his version of a story from the shopping trip, or asking for his opinion on the things they talked about. The whole thing gave Adrien a pleasantly warm feeling that he had not felt from his own family for a long time.

Even when his mother had still been around, dinners had never been like this. The table in the dining hall was too big and the distance between its occupants too wide to hold chummy conversations like this one. Family activities had always been more of an exception in their household, making the trips they did—to the zoo or a museum—precious and few.

For the Dupain-Chengs, such things seemed to be the rule though. There was no distance between them. No other responsibilities that kept them apart for most of the time. No one to order someone else to do something.

If spending the summer with Marinette meant he could be part of this warm family, if even just for a little bit, then he would _gladly_ run away from every single photoshoot his father ordered him to do. Because this was how a family should be. He had desperately missed it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll have you all know that I tested the escalator thing in real life just to see how many steps one can physically keep their feet apart. If me going through the entire ML merchandise of that shop and then _demanding_ where the Plagg plushies were (they had none) didn't make the employees think that I was absolutely insane, then my exit of performing a split on the escalator probably did. I suffer for my art and my obsessions. You're welcome.
> 
> The next chapter is already finished and beta-read! I just have to go through it before I upload it, but I'll wait a few days with that so that I ~~_hopefully_~~ will have chapter 13 finished at this point so I don't have to stress so much. We'll see.


	12. Lughnasadh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we have the second critical day of this fanfiction: Lughnasadh. Luckily it's not quite as bad as Midsummer was!
> 
> I can also finally introduce Mélusine to you all! Not gonna lie, I like her a lot, but I admit to being biased. :'D I based her off of the legendary figure Mélusine (or Melusina, as she is also called) since I found her backstory fascinating. I immediately had so many headcanons and I just _had to_ use her! I recommend reading the myths about her, they are very interesting! :D Also, she is a half-faerie and had a bullshitty (in her opinion) human father. Sounds familiar? ;D   
>  Also, remember that little bit about the shop being closed on Saturdays back in chapter 8? That was a reference to her myth too! ~~sorry, I'm just very excited about hiding references to it everywhere ;A;~~
> 
> Thanks a lot to everyone who beta-read this chapter and helped me with all those silly errors! You know who you are! <3

The crescent moon hung low in the sky, the light of the sunset still lingering around it. The temperatures had fallen and Félix breathed in the cool fresh air. At least it was as cool and as fresh as the air at the end of July in Paris could be. It was still an improvement from the stale air inside his home; no matter how good the air conditioning was, it was never the same as being outside.

Standing on the roof of his house and letting the wind play with his fur gave him a sense of rightness. This was where he belonged. The night was his domain and the noble _Cat_ _Sidhe_ form his birthright. It made him feel far away from the earthly worries he had to endure and the ridiculousness of it all. In this form he was _free._

“Félix, I know I shouldn’t be _that person_ , but you really should come down from there. You could slip!”

With a sigh Félix turned to his brother’s worried voice. Adrien was half-hanging out of a window and looked up at him.

“Everything is fine.” The dismissive statement did nothing to sway Adrien.

“Just as everything was fine with me when I jumped outside on Midsummer? Come on, Félix, you’re being very hypocritical right now. Lughnasadh is starting tomorrow night and you’re just waltzing around without a care in the world!”

“Lughnasadh is not Midsummer,” while the statement itself was true, he still felt the distinct pull that was tugging a little more strongly at his awareness than it usually did. Whispers that he could otherwise easily ignore had become annoyingly persistent. He knew that Adrien felt it too, which meant lying would not help at all.

“Have you packed yet?” Félix asked as he began to climb down the roof and jumped back through the window into their room.

“Yes, but you’re sure this is okay? I mean, it’s a big day and I really would hate to disturb Mélusine when she is celebrating.”

“Do not worry about that. She rarely has company these days so she will be delighted to have us over.”

He jumped on his favourite chair and curled up on the grey shirt Adrien had presented to him as a _gift_ from his shopping trip with Marinette. Apparently the two of them had wanted to play some sort of prank on him, but the joke was on them since the soft material of the garment made for a perfect pad to take a cat-nap on.

“I’m just saying. We managed on our own just fine so far.”

Now that was blatant lie if ever he had heard one.

“Adrien, without the herbs from her shop we would not have made it past Imbolc and you know it. Either way, Mélusine was the one to extend the invitation when I was there last night to bargain for St. John’s wort. It would be incredibly rude to deny it, especially since we need all the help we can get.”

“It just feels…wrong to leave father and Nathalie defenceless like that.”

“Oh, by Danu, Adrien! They will be _fine._ ” Félix grumbled and gave an irritated swish of his tail. His father really was currently _last_ on his list of priorities.

“But, what if—”

“You seem awfully hellbent on staying here for some reason,” Félix interrupted, staring at his brother intently. The flinch at his comment was barely noticeable, but it was there.

“Not really, just…” Adrien started but trailed off, looking out the window into the twilight sky. Paris shone beyond with the Eiffel Tower as its most prominent structure that had just lit up a few minutes ago. Apart from the famous tourist attraction, there was also something else—something much less famous—in the direction Adrien was looking. Félix narrowed his eyes.

“Don’t tell me you planned to sneak into Marinette’s room during Lughnasadh.”

A twitch of Adrien’s ears was the giveaway this time.

“You were! You absolute moron!” Félix hissed and jumped up on the back of the chair to be on eye level with his brother.

“Yes, Lughnasadh is not Midsummer, as you have so eloquently stated earlier, but being around her as a _Cat Sidhe_ is risky even on normal days. Let us not risk it by being around her on the critical days. That would just end up in an absolute disaster now that staying away from her for two weeks on end is not an option anymore.”

Adrien flattened his ears and sighed.

“You’re right, Fé. It was a stupid idea anyway.”

“Glad that we agree.”

“But, is she going to be alright?”

“Most certainly. You gave her the necklace, right?”

Adrien nodded. He had worked on making a necklace out of rowan berries over the last few weeks with the intent to give it to Marinette so that she would be safe. He had told her something about a silly superstition of his and practically begged her to wear it just so he could have a peace of mind.

Félix found this incredibly risky since Marinette would probably look up on the internet what kind of superstition required rowan berries but they could always claim to be Wicca or something similar. It was as close to the truth as they could get anyway.

“Rowan berries will protect her from being kidnapped or mind-controlled, so even if she encounters a fair one, she will be safe,” Félix reminded his brother. Adrien, in turn, just sighed again.

“I guess I’m just worried.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

 

 

On the day before Lughnasadh, Adrien and Félix both stayed as long as they could afford at Marinette’s place. They had brought their duffel bags beforehand already and explained that they would spend the night at the place of a friend of their mother, since she had invited them over. The truth sounded much less mysterious than the experience would probably be.

What proved to be more difficult was the Dupain-Chengs’ insistence to drive them to that family friend of theirs and drop them off there. Only after several fake assurances that they would be driven by their own driver—lying was a necessary evil in this case—did the overly concerned parents back down. It had both been reassuring and annoying though, which was a weird combination.

In the evening, the twins said their hasty goodbyes to Marinette and her parents before rushing off. They wanted to get to _Mélusine’s_ before dusk since they did not necessarily want to encounter any of her customers. Not that they had anything in particular against the fair folk, it was just that faeries always brought complications and complications were the last thing they needed at this moment.

They had not even tried to argue with their father about cancelling photoshoots and classes for the day and staying away from the mansion. Instead, they had sneaked out of the house early in the morning with their duffel bags and left Nathalie a note that told her of their absence. Their father could rage all he wanted, but would still not find them until they willingly returned. Let him relearn that faeries were not to be crossed so easily, even when they were his own children.

After what had happened on Midsummer, Félix was not willing to take any more chances. He realised they would not make it for very long on their own, only relying on a few simple herbs. _Mélusine’s_ was their best bet. As dangerous as the shop was for mortals, the worst a faerie could fear was a bad bargain there. In truth, entering it was like coming home.

Félix could understand why the folk regarded the legendary halfling’s place as a sanctuary with its many fey things strewn about everywhere—adder stones, dried elecampane and clover, septagrams carved into various kinds of wood, flint and much more. Yet there was an order to the chaos, a system neither faerie nor human understood, for it was unique to Mélusine herself.

Whenever something was needed, she would be there to grant the item or to deny it as she pleased. There was no way of finding anything specific without her help. Everything yet nothing was available, two extremes of a whole, two sides of the same coin. Such was the faerie way.

Strike a good bargain with the blonde shop owner and she would give you what you want, but only if she benefited from what she was getting in return.

To get the St. John’s wort and the dried rowan berries, Félix had had to sing her a song which he had afterwards forgotten the words of. She loved to hear children sing, especially those she had watched grow up and she collected their songs like some other people would collect stamps. It had been a comparably easy bargain, since others had to give her much more precious things like names, favours or even their own children. Mélusine was a hard bargainer and proud of it, which made Félix dread what she would ask for when Adrien and he were older.

For the moment though, they were orphaned children in her eyes and therefore in desperate need of her care.

“Come in, kittens, come in,” she said excitedly as the twins entered her shop. Mélusine herself was looking brilliantly beautiful as always with her tall figure, her wavy, long blond hair and her striking blue eyes. It was easy to see why so many legends had been written about her in which knights had begged on their knees for her hand in marriage. Though those knights probably would have hesitated a little if they would have noticed her slit-shaped pupils. Then again, some were foolish enough to take faeries as their brides in full knowledge of what they were. His own father was such a fool.

“We really appreciate that you’re letting us stay over, Mélusine,” Félix said politely, knowing better than to thank her for it and was smothered in a tight hug shortly afterwards.

“Oh, it’s my absolute pleasure to celebrate Lughnasadh with you two. And Adrien, I haven’t seen you in ages! Look at how much you’ve grown!” Now it was his brother’s turn to get his breath hugged out of him, though he did not seem to mind since he returned the hug in kind.

“I already heard what happened before Félix told me,” she said with an exasperated sigh after gently breaking the hug and venturing behind the counter to a hallway beyond. The twins followed her.

“Your father is an insufferable man, caging you like livestock and then daring to neglect you on _Midsummer_ of all days. Daft human.”

“Wait, who did you hear that from?” Adrien asked and Félix noted that his voice sounded a little panicked. Not without reason. If this information made the rounds, then there was a chance that someone has caught wind of the twins’ closeness to a certain human girl as well.

“The Court talks, kitten. Not voluntary often, they are deceptive like that and I am a mere cursed halfling and therefore not high in their graces. Bargains are helpful for getting information though and some of the folk do talk a lot without any prompting.”

“Did they say anything else?” Adrien pressed on and Félix elbowed his brother for the impulsive question. Mélusine threw them a mischievous grin over her shoulder which made Adrien realise his mistake.

“ _Is_ there anything else to know?”

And there it was. They could lie and say that there was not and with other faeries that might have worked, but Mélusine was half human too. She knew the art of lies and how to weave them. Halflings did not lie often, but in contrary to faeries they _could_ , which meant that they also knew when they were lied to. A false story would not satisfy their host.

“Do you have to tend to the shop tonight?” Félix therefore asked, deflecting the question. Mélusine would not forget it, but they would have time to think of a satisfactory answer until she asked it again.

“I would rather not. I have a nice little home in Brittany where I would like to partake in the whole spectacle. It has been a few years since I have last seen the cutting of the first corn or tasted the meals they make of it. But we can go visit some holy wells tomorrow and feast plenty. Who knows, maybe we’ll also be able to play matchmaker for a few mortals.” She giggled like a little girl at the idea.

“So, you do or you do not have to work?” Félix asked and with that also cut off the excited string of questions Adrien had been about to ask.

“Well, it’s my shop and I can technically open and close it whenever I want, but a nasty _Sidhe_ cursed it when I had it closed once on Beltane. The Court took care of it and the curse was lifted, but it was a hassle and I’d rather not risk angering a fae on one of the important celebrations again. I will only be open until moonset though. They seemed to be happy with that.” Her grin told Félix that there was something off about it.

“And _when_ is moonset?” he asked, feeling a smirk growing on his face.

“Shortly after eleven at night.” She grinned too. Dusk was at nine, which meant only two hours of work for her instead of eight. Whoever had asked her to be open on the eve of Lughnasadh had been tricked by the trickster. Not many faeries dared to do such a bold thing and even less got away with it. Mélusine was aware of the gamble she had taken, and instead of being afraid, she delighted in the risk.

“I will be in bed before midnight for once and can spend the whole entire day with you two kittens. Until then, you can decide whether you take this door,” she pointed to a plain white door that went well with the interior decor of the building and no doubt lead up to her apartment above the shop, “or one of the other doors. The walls only work at daytime, so don’t even try it.” Now she pointed to a hallway to their left which was lined with doors of different styles and sizes. The end of the hallway, however, was painted with a path in a forest that looked real enough that one could easily imagine just going through what was undoubtedly a wall and take a stroll in nature.

“The last time we did that, we ended up lost in the North of Germany because Adrien had the great idea to run through what looked like a garden path painted on the wall of your living room,” Félix remarked while Adrien just mumbled something about having been six and not knowing the portal opened in the mornings.

Mélusine laughed. “Oh my, I almost forgot about that! It was adorable finding you both wandering around in Brekling and asking where Paris was. Your mother and I had a blast.”

“We’ll stay where we are on the globe for now, thanks,” Adrien said somewhat sheepishly and did not even take as much as a glance at the corridor again.

“Are you sure? I have this lovely cottage in Sweden in the middle of the forest. It’s nicely quiet there. Something that really can’t be said about Paris.”

For a moment Adrien seemed to consider it, but Félix opened the door to the apartment and pushed his brother up the staircase that lay beyond it.

“And let me guess: that portal opens once a month?”

“Once a week,” Mélusine corrected. “Have you ever stayed in the middle of nowhere for a _month_? It gets lonely and my customers would be absolutely livid if I’d close the shop for that long.”

“Fair enough, but still no deal,” Félix said with a shrug and walked up the stairs, followed shortly by Mélusine.

“If this is about your father and these ridiculous things he forces you to do, then I think you could use a week away from him.”

They _could_ both use a break like that, but they couldn’t take one because there still was a promise for them to keep. A promise to themselves that did not bind them like a bargain or a favour would. What motivated them not to break it were the consequences that could follow.

Being at Mélusine’s place for a day was as much of a break as they were going to get at this point and they were thankful for it. Being with her meant that they could also make sure that Marinette did not find her shop and if she did, they could be there to prevent the worst.

Apart from that very practical reason it was also a relief to be in the company of someone who not only knew most of the secrets they kept from the world, but also would not use that information against them. Yet.

Mélusine, as much as she often argued it, was not like the other faeries. As a halfling—a child of a faerie and a human just like Adrien and Félix—she knew how humans thought and felt. She could see cruelty where faeries saw fun and she fought to prevent harm coming to any child in her care.

She had had a lot of them in her long life. Children, that was. Most were not her own, but human children; orphans or even those that had been traded for a changeling and needed a caring mother to raise them. It was one of the reasons why Mélusine had homes all over the place, which she conveniently connected to her shop through portals that seemed to follow their own laws when left alone.

Her love for children was the only reason why Félix had been able to make such simple bargains with her and why Adrien and he were at her place in the first place. He knew that once they were not children anymore, she would lose interest and treat them like she would any other faerie. Or at least he suspected as much.

Truth be told, Félix did not know nearly as much about the shop owner as he’d like. What he did know was from the times he had visited her shop as a child, and from the stories told to him by his mother in anecdotes, when she had felt like it. That and the few bargains he had struck with her recently.

It was easy to venture through a conversation with a faerie, while also dangerous. They could not lie but spoke with a silver tongue. You could only guess what they were up to most of the time, but you should always be sure to exercise caution. Infidelity was nothing rare with them and they loved playing their little games of pretend with faeries and mortals alike. I was safer to never trust a faerie, and as long as you were careful enough to not strike a bargain with any of them, or tell them your name, you were safe.

Halflings were a whole different can of worms though. They could lie. They could trick you into a false sense of security by convincing you they were just human enough to understand you, but then stab you in the back. They were a much bigger gamble to take because, while it was more likely that they were being honest with their actions, you could never know if you were walking right into a trap.

The safe bet obviously was to stay away from faerie folk in general, but if you _were_ one of the folk, that was sadly not an option. With Mélusine, Félix just needed to stay suspicious because he knew that Adrien would be too trusting.

“I’ve made you some food. I hope you’ll appreciate the theme,” Mélusine said with a twinkle in her eyes as they entered her apartment.

It was not particularly big, just as average as most Paris apartments were with white walls and floor-length windows that let in the last light of the day. As in any faerie home, everything was remarkably clean and tidy.

What made it vastly different from their own home, except for the smaller space was the decorations. Wooden bookshelves lined every wall in the room, with books overflowing each shelf into piles on the floor. Only one corner was exceptionally empty to make room for a painting of a porch with sea-view. It was no doubt another portal and by the looks of it also a relatively new one. Mélusine had probably run out of space in her other living room downstairs.

The dining table stood next to the kitchenette in the middle of the room and the ceiling above it looked like someone had tried to let a tree grow out of it—which might even be what had happened. From the artfully wound branches hung glass orbs with lit candles inside, which were obviously real. The answer to how they managed to burn without oxygen and also not melt the glass orbs was simple: magic.

The table itself was richly set with all kinds of food on silver plates. All of the food was something they were familiar with—bread, oatcakes, cheese, butter, sausages and milk—which almost seemed odd in such fey house. Then again, real faerie food was hard to acquire. If anyone could do it though, it probably was Mélusine.

“A Lughnasadh feast?” Adrien asked excitedly as he recognized the _theme_ Mélusine had talked about.

“That’s right! And a faerie feast too, just for us three,” Mélusine said with an excited grin and hugged both twins to her sides from behind in glee. Félix, who was not used to physical affection from anyone but his brother, tensed at the contact but soon relaxed. Somehow it was different when it was not a human but a faerie. It felt right.

“Are you gonna eat with us?” Adrien asked as he turned around in her half hug, his tail curling in hopeful anticipation.

Félix could not even remember when their father had last sat with them at the dining table to eat something, dinner or otherwise. When their mother had still been around they had always eaten together, no exception. To have that tradition broken had also broken something in Adrien, who had always loved company and loathed being alone. Félix had never forgiven his father for his neglect.

“Of course, kitten!” Mélusine almost looked offended at the question. “And you know what?” she said and hugged Adrien closer to her side with the arm she had around him. “Tomorrow we will all cook dinner together. I’ll teach you how to make the best pumpkin soup you ever ate. How does that sound?”

Adrien looked at her in awe and then broke into a giddy smile. “Yes! We will finally learn how to cook!”

Mélusine let both of them go and chuckled. “Don’t get your hopes up yet. Cooking doesn’t come easy to halflings. Just as with lying, we _can_ learn it though.” She winked at the twins before motioning to the table.

“Well then, let us eat before the sun goes down and some _goblin_ gets the idea to curse my shop again.”

Félix had to admit that it was by far the best meal they had had in over half a year. When their mother had still been around, the cooks had the strict instructions to only make certain kinds of food for them, which had always been amazing. After she had gone missing, their father had insisted on a more _human_ menu for all household members, which didn’t always agree with the twins. Most of the food was too salty for their taste and they rarely got anything sweet to eat at all. No wonder they had gotten more miserable as the months had gone by.

When they finished their meal, Mélusine surprised them with a honey cake and chocolate pudding.

“I have to admit that I didn’t bake the cake myself. Cooking, I can handle, but baking is a whole other thing. Never stopped me from _trying_ to make a few batches of Christmas cookies, even though it always ended up an inedible disaster.” She laughed.

“And the pudding?” Adrien eager asked while eyeing the chocolate dessert. It made Mélusine laugh again.

“Oh kitten, I was _there_ when they _invented_ pudding. I have gotten quite good at making it myself in the last few centuries. Here, try it yourself.” She set the glass bowl with pudding down in front of Adrien and gave him a smaller bowl to put the pudding into.

After just one spoonful, his brother seemed convinced.

“That tastes amazing!” He exclaimed and eagerly shoved another spoon full of chocolate pudding into his mouth. Félix took some of it too, but just a polite portion instead of the mountain of pudding Adrien had shovelled into his bowl.

“I know,” Mélusine said with a giggle. “But don’t forget to eat the cake. I got it from a fantastic bakery at Place des Vosges.”

Adrien suddenly started to cough violently while Félix did a much better job at acting inconspicuous. Luckily, Mélusine was too worried about his brother’s wellbeing to see it as a reaction to what she had said. Or at least Félix very much hoped so.

“Are you alright, kitten?” she asked and gently patted his back. Adrien just nodded, not daring to say anything which was probably wise.

A cuckoo clock—a common substitute for a clock with _bells_ —went off from where it hung on the wall next to a bookshelf. It was nine o’clock.

Mélusine sighed.

“And that means work for me. You’ll be safe up here as long as you don’t open the windows since the spells I set in place seal fae magic from the outside. Be good until I’m back,” she said and ruffled both of their hair before hurrying back down the stairs.

Adrien, who had recovered from his coughing fit, sent Félix a wary look. He in turn just put a finger on his lips, motioning his brother to be quiet. Even when Mélusine was downstairs, they could not be sure that she would not hear them. No talks about Marinette. They would talk about it once they were home again. That Mélusine had bought a cake from the Dupain-Cheng bakery was only minorly concerning anyway and therefore did not warrant an immediate discussion.

 

The twins finished eating their dessert and afterwards went to explore Mélusine’s apartment. Adrien seemed especially careful to not accidentally trigger a portal or some other kind of spell by touching the wrong things. Félix had fewer reservations and eagerly went through the titles of the many books their host had stored in her living room. There were even more books down in her shop and in her various other houses. If she would try, she could probably fill an entire library with them.

In the bookcases of her living room, the collection was a wild mixture of romance novels, murder mysteries and spell books. Félix studied the spell books’ covers, not daring to look into them without permission. Such tomes were dicey after all and he did not fancy getting cursed by accident and then having to endure Adrien’s endless teasing about it.

“I’m bored,” Adrien declared after an hour. He had explored everything there was to the living room—without daring to open any doors or to touch any painted walls in case they were portals—and had then decided that the black leather couch was safe enough to lay down on.

“She will be back in about an hour,” Félix replied from where he sat at the kitchen table and went through one of the murder mystery novels to pass the time. He would have sat down on the couch, but Adrien was taking up most of the space—probably on purpose. Jerk.

Adrien’s response was groaning into a pillow in frustration. Silence reigned for a few minutes, only interrupted by the silent _tap tap_ of Adrien’s tail as it hit the back of the couch in its agitated lashing. Said tapping sound started to grow louder with each passing second and after a few minutes Félix was convinced that Adrien was doing it on purpose. He endured it for two more minutes and then silently stood up to walk over to his brother.

While still holding his book in one hand, he shoved Adrien’s moping form aside and sat down on the small space he had freed. Only moments later Adrien was already sprawled on Félix’s lap like the annoying cat that he was, only to then be blatantly ignored.

“ _Fé_ ,” he whined and tried to swat the book out of his brother’s hands. Felix, in turn, just held it higher. Face-down as Adrien was, his reach was not the widest after all.

“I’m still bored!”

Félix did not feel like dignifying that with an answer.

“ _Fé!_ ”

The detective in the book had just found another clue and stated connecting the dots to the possible suspects. Would it be the jealous ex-girlfriend after all? Félix was almost entirely sure it was.

“Pay attention to me!”

It would certainly not make for a very original conclusion to the story, but it would be amusing to see the murderer squirm when she would eventually be cornered. Those were always the best parts of murder mysteries after all.

Only when Adrien turned around and successfully swatted the book out of his hands did Félix properly acknowledge his brother with a glare. Adrien just threw him an innocent grin. Asshole.

“Really Adrien?”

“You were being rude.”

“That’s subjective and therefore debatable.” Félix leaned forward to pick the book up from the floor, not caring that he was squishing his brother in the process.

“Why are you even reading stories about death?” Adrien asked as soon as Félix had settled back down with the book and started flipping through the pages to find the part he had last been reading before being interrupted.

“The investigation and the conviction are the most interesting parts, not the death itself.”

“It’s still sad and you are still boring,” Adrien grumbled.

Only then did Félix notice the tension in his brother’s body. It was barely there and he was doing a good job of externally masking it, but this was still more than just simple boredom. He seemed anxious about something and it was not hard to guess about what.

He opted for holding the book with one hand and letting the other one rest in Adrien’s hair, petting him behind the ears. It took a little until it drew a purr out of him, which was another indication that he was anything but relaxed.

The worry about Lughnasadh being a repeat of Midsummer and about Marinette being safe had weighted down heavily on is brother in the last few days. He was a master at putting on a happy face when he was feeling down, but he could never fool Félix for very long with it.

After just fifteen more minutes, Adrien had fallen asleep.

 

 

Golden corn fields stretched as far as one could see and the sun was shining in a cloudless sky. It was the perfect day for a celebration that was meant to worship Lugh, the Celtic god of the sun, light and harvests.

Celebrating the _light_ as a _Cat Sidhe_ was almost ironic, but Félix was willing to humour Mélusine when she had excitedly shoved them through one of her many doors that morning. They were currently in Ireland if he was not mistaken and their faerie host seemed to have a goal in mind.

Adrien eagerly trotted along and enjoyed the change of scenery. Breathing fresh air for a change really was a relief. No exhaust emissions or the smell of alcohol and garbage mixed itself in the air into an unpleasant cocktail. Only the smells of soil, rapeseed and wheat were present, though they were more of an afterthought. The absence of any pollution was what was most noticeable.

“Can you tell us where we are going?”

Félix looked at Adrien and Mélusine, hoping his brother’s question would receive an answer for he was equally curious.

“To an old friend of mine. He owns a farm in this area.”

She let out a happy giggle and started twirling like little girl. “Going through the fields sure brings back memories. I’ve lived here not so long ago, you know?”

“What is your understanding of ‘not so long ago’?” Félix asked since he doubted that a halfling that was almost a millennium old would have an even remotely similar sense of time as Adrien and him.

“About sixty or so years,” Mélusine replied undeterred. “There was a changeling bargain in the area and I happened to have a house close by from a century ago. Renovations were a pain, but the boy I took care of grew to love it. Adorable little one. He sadly died two years ago. Had a heart attack in the piggery and got eaten by the pigs. Such is the farm life.” She sounded more like she was talking about an unfortunate inconvenience rather than a tragedy. Adrien had gone pale though.

“The pigs ate him?” He asked with a weak voice.

“Yep, boots and all. They eat anything, you know? The family didn’t find even a scrap of him afterwards.”

“Is that family the one we’re going to now?” Félix asked, already dreading more gory details about the former farmer’s demise.

Mélusine started laughing. “Oh no, kitten, they hate my guts! Blamed me for the whole mess and said that if I had blessed him with good luck it wouldn’t have happened, which is ridiculous. Do I look like an Asparas or a Cat Sidhe to you?”

“Can’t say you do,” Félix said to humour her since Adrien seemed to have been shocked into silence.

“I mean, I _can_ do blessings, but the conditions are very bothersome. You two are ironically lucky that blessings come so easy to you.”

“There are drawbacks,” Adrien remarked quietly, almost inaudible.

Finally, Mélusine seemed to pick up on the sullen mood.

“Oh, don’t be sad, kitten. He has lived a good life with his wife and kids and that is what is worth being remembered. Weirdly enough, humans always just focus on how things ended, rather than how they began, so they fail to see the bigger picture.

“Look at the fields for example.” She gestured to said fields. “All of this was a forest once upon a time and somewhere around here was a village. Only vague ruins of it are left now and certainly nothing of the forest can be seen anymore. The people forgot what was once here. The most they look back on is how many years in a row they have planted grain, so that they know that in the third year they have to switch to rapeseed and to nothing in the fourth to relieve the ground soil. They continue with it until things change again and they forget about this circle too.

“My advice about humans is to make the time you have with them worth it, so you don’t have to regret anything in the end. We fair folk tend to think about the whole picture, so we have to make it a pleasing one.”

The words hit closer to home than Mélusine probably intended them to and therefore did not help much to lift the mood.

 

 

One certainly couldn’t say that Mélusine wasn’t one to learn from her mistakes. She spent the rest of the trip pointing out various things like an old thorn tree and how it was a holy site; or overgrown stones with faded symbols that were once used as objects of worship—all in the hope that it would distract the boys, mainly Adrien, from what she had said before.

When they came across a wishing well, Félix was certain that his brother wished for something along the lines of a long and healthy life for everyone he cared about. Félix just wished for good luck. They certainly could use some.

Not even the litter of kittens that was presented to them by Mélusine’s friend—he turned out to be a descendant of one of the many children she had raised in her life—could completely chase away the gloom. That the world whispered easier solutions and tempting offers to them did not help either. At least the enchanted St. John’s wort was helping a lot to keep those voices at bay.

When they arrived back at the house that held the portal—a garden gate with the swirly depiction of a tree—Adrien seemed to at least have calmed down enough to give what looked like an honest smile to the suggestion of cooking pumpkin soup for dinner.

Stepping through the gate was just as surreal as the first time. It felt like walking through a normal door, but at the same time, the world shifted all around them in a matter of seconds until they stepped out in the hallway full of doors back at Mélusine’s shop in Paris. Félix knew that a human would probably get disoriented to the point of insanity when going through one of those fairy-path-like gateways.

Cooking dinner was as chaotic as could be expected with two _Cat Sidhe_ present that were both beyond talentless when it come to the art of cooking. Mélusine possessed the patience of a saint though, slowly walking them through the steps and even cleaning up the mess they made in the process. The resulting soup was passable at best.

The dark thoughts from earlier seemed to return when the twins made themselves comfortable in the bed of the guest room again that night. Adrien was snuggling a little closer to Félix than he usually would and it also took him a while to actually fall asleep. Félix could already see the chaos of the following day unfold as he imagined a distressed Adrien trailing behind Nathalie and his father. What worried him even more was if he could behave in front of Marinette. Perhaps a visit to the bakery would have to wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I had a schedule way back when I started uploading chapters in June and July? Well, I have done a very shitty job of actually keeping to that schedule, haven't I? :'D  
> This will change now! I am very determined to get the Christmas chapters out in time, so I will now upload _TWICE A WEEK!_ The schedule so far is Tuesdays and Sundays. If I can manage it I will also upload on Thursdays on top of that shortly before Christmas.   
>  Oh, and yes, it is very hard to write 10 chapters in about a month of time, but I'm trying! ;w;


	13. The Perfect Summer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One month passes and a lot happens :3
> 
> alternative title: How Adrien becomes the happiest kitten in the world!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So much friendship fluff! You're welcome ;D
> 
> * * *
> 
> Thanks again to the amazing people on discord who put up with my perfectionism :'D  
> Seriously though, you guys are life savers! I wouldn't be able to make this all happen without you! <33333 Thanks a lot Hari for creating such an amazing server! ;w; <3

Marinette had initially thought that Adrien and Félix—or at least one of them, most likely Adrien—would show up the next day to tell her about their stay at the place of this family friend of theirs. When neither of them did, she berated herself for thinking so highly of herself in the first place. Who was she to them after all? A pastry supplier at the least and a new friend at best. It was stupid to think they would even consider to tell her about an intimate thing such as a family visit.

When both of them showed up the next day though, she realised that the doubts she had put herself through had been thoroughly unnecessary. Something had happened. She was not sure what that something was and she also was not going to ask, but there was definitely something wrong.

Adrien, usually the incarnation of sunshine itself, looked like someone had put a dimmer to his soul and turned it all the way down. He was still smiling, but it was a hollow smile that did not reach his eyes.

Félix looked more like himself, but he was obviously worried about his brother’s state if the constant concerned glances were any indication.

Marinette was not the only one to notice it either. Her parents immediately started fussing over the two boys. Before she could even blink, the twins and she were ushered to the kitchen and her mother started making omelettes for all of them.

“How was the stay over at your friend’s house?” Her father asked as he sat down at the kitchen table with them.

“It was a unique experience,” Félix cryptically replied after a contemplating pause.

“She taught us how to make pumpkin soup!” Adrien piped in and even though he seemed excited, the sparkle in his eyes died down way too quickly.

“Maybe we could make it together sometime,” Marinette said as a try to keep the conversation on a more joyful topic. When Adrien’s eyes caught hers though, a weird expression crossed his face for just a second. Regret? Sadness? Whatever it was, it wasn’t anything positive.

“Well, we aren’t very good at it yet,” he sheepishly admitted with a fake smile that seemed to cover up whatever snippet of emotion Marinette had previously seen.

“Which is a clear understatement. If it wouldn’t have been for our friend’s help, the soup would have been inedible,” Félix added.

The conversation carried on in a similar tone, first continuing with the topic of food and then drifting off to various other things. The twins’ mood had slightly improved by the time Marinette’s mother set down a fluffy omelette in front of each of them.  

 

After a while, rain started to fall outside and Adrien flinched at the rumble of distant thunder. Marinette’s parents had gone downstairs, probably to discuss something in private. They had left the three teenagers in the living room, where they had settled down on the sofa to watch TV. The show they watched was nothing particularly interesting, but just one of those afternoon shows that were made to keep people only mildly entertained.

When Adrien flinched a second time, Marinette came to a decision.

“Have you guys ever built a blanket fort before?”

“A what?” Félix asked with his default sceptically raised eyebrow.

“No, we haven’t. What’s a blanket fort?” Adrien asked at the same time and blinked curiously.

With a grin, Marinette stood up and opened a cupboard where they stored extra blankets.

“Help me carry those upstairs and I’ll show you.”

The twins seemed confused, but curious enough to follow her instructions. Only when they set down the blankets as a pile on the floor did she remember that neither Adrien nor Félix had ever seen her room before. She immediately blushed in embarrassment when she noticed them eye the pink walls and childish decorations.

“You have an amazing room!” Adrien suddenly exclaimed, drawing her out of her shame. He wore the same awed expression he had given her living room when he had first seen it, just even more intense than back then.

“It does look comfortable,” was the only comment Félix gave it, coupled with an approving nod.

Marinette blinked at both of them. They liked it? She gave a shy nod of thanks in return.

“So, uhm, blanket fort,” she said to change the topic and both boys immediately stopped their curious inspection of her room to look at her attentively.

“The first thing we need to do is free this space.” She pointed at the space below her bed. Luckily, she had just tidied up the previous day, so that the only thing she had to do was to shove her desk chair to the other side of the room.

“And making it more comfortable,” she added as she pulled her round rug into the space in front of her desks.

“What can we do?” Adrien asked as he awkwardly tried to stand by the hatch to stay out of her way.

“Help me with the fun part,” Marinette replied with a grin as she produced a box full of pegs from a corner of her room.

“The chaise needs to go in front of the rug.” She folded up its parasol and put it away. “Can you help me push?”

Adrien practically jumped at the opportunity to help while Félix seemed much more hesitant.

“What will this result in?” He asked as he watched Adrien and her push the piece of furniture across the room.

“A dark cave made out of blankets and pillows.”

For some reason, _this_ seemed to catch his undivided attention and he started helping without further questions from then onward. Adrien also seemed even more enthusiastic than before, which was probably a good sign.

After fetching a bunch of folding chairs from the guest room downstairs and even acquiring some more blankets from the sofa, the three of them got to work. Most blankets could be secured by stuffing one end between the bedframe and the mattress of Marinette’s loft bed, while others had to additionally be secured with books. They were then fixed with pegs to the backs of the folding chairs.

When Marinette descended the stairs from her loft bed— very careful not to disturb the blanket that hung over it—she was happy with what they had done so far.

“Alright, these chairs need to be a little further apart, so we actually have an entrance.” She cautiously did so under the curious stares of the twins.

“Is it finished?” Adrien asked hopefully, but Marinette shook her head.

“Just a few more details.” She then climbed inside the unfinished contraption, armed with another blanket that was then carefully placed in front of the window to block out any light, and secured at the staircase.

After they had blocked any other holes where light might be able to get in, Marinette told the two to wait outside, before throwing a bunch of pillows and thick fluffy blankets inside the fort and disappearing in it.

“Why can’t we come in?” Adrien whined only three seconds later and Marinette had to stifle a giggle.

“Because it’s a surprise. It’ll only take a minute,” she replied as she arranged the many pillows and blankets for maximum comfort.

“One minute is over,” Félix said when she was almost finished and she was amused to note that he sounded a little impatient.

“Aaaand done,” Marinette declared as she emerged from the now finally finished blanket fort again. “Be careful not to knock any of the chairs over when you go in.”

Adrien practically _dove_ inside and let out a delighted gasp afterwards. “Félix, you have to see this!”

“I would, if your behind wasn’t blocking the entrance,” the other twin deadpanned.

Marinette hid a grin behind her hand. Watching the two of them interact was incredibly amusing, especially on Félix’s part.

“We could make some microwave popcorn and watch a movie in there if you want.”

The sound of sudden shuffling could be heard and a second later Adrien peeked his head out of the entrance.

“Microwave popcorn?”

Marinette blinked. “Please tell me you know what microwave popcorn is.”

By the sheepish look he threw her, he apparently did _not_ know. She could not say that she was surprised, honestly.

This was how the tree of them ended up in the kitchen, watching the bag of popcorn turn in the microwave. At the very first pop, Adrien gasped and started wiggling in place when more pops followed. Félix seemed to try very hard to keep a neutral face, but could not quite cover his expression of curious interest. Marinette meanwhile felt like she was dealing with visitors from the past that saw modern inventions for the very first time. It was bizarre.

One bowl of buttery-sweet microwave popcorn later, the three of them climbed back into the blanket fort and Marinette started her computer. She also turned on her desk lamp in the corner that illuminated the cosy cave in a warm light.

The rest of the afternoon was spent entirely in the blanket fort with the three of them watching a movie. They only left it once to get more popcorn—Adrien and Félix both insisted to tag along to help her carry it even though she saw through that lie quite easily when both of them intently watched the next bag while it turned in the microwave.

When the movie was finished and Adrien had _begged_ her to watch anime—she should have guessed that he liked those—her parents surprised them with a plate full of cookies and some more experimental cake—something with caramel and chocolate this time. The _squeal_ of absolute glee Adrien let out at the sight of the baked goods was something she would not forget very soon. Neither would she forget him thanking her parents like they were angels sent from heaven. Félix’s gratitude towards the treats was meanwhile expressed with a polite ‘thank you.’

 At one point in between episodes, Adrien noticed her pin board and just threw her a knowing grin. After her initial confusion, she eventually remembered that all the notes he had left her were on said pinboard. Only halfway through the next episode did her embarrassed blush die down.

The twins stayed until after dark and only left hesitantly. Especially Adrien had to pretty much be pried away from the blanket fort by an also quite reluctant Félix.

When Marinette took down the blanket fort afterwards so she could go to bed, she noticed a post it note on her desk.

 

> Thank you for today. I’m so glad we are friends! :3  
> 
> 
> _~Adrien_

 

She was still smiling when she climbed under her covers that night.

 

 

To absolutely no one’s surprise, the twins showed up the next day too.

Adrien was devastated to see the blanket fort gone and it took Félix, Marinette and a time span of about ten minutes to assure him that it could easily be rebuilt and that this was indeed not the end of the world. Marinette’s suggestion to have a picnic on her balcony was the argument that eventually won Adrien over and made him stop mourning over the pile of blankets.

The weather was nice, perfect for sitting on the balcony. Apparently, it was also perfect for uninvited guests, drawn in by the cookie crumbs. After all, the black cat was not the only visitor she had met on her balcony so far.

Tempted by the food she had brought up with her, a pigeon had once sat down on the table in front of her while she had been drawing. It had snatched a croissant and then had proceeded to take it apart on her balcony. Since she had not tried to stop it, the pigeon had returned shortly afterwards. After the fourth time, she had given it the name Jacques and from then on had given him a cookie each time he visited.

The good thing about Jacques’ visit that day was that she could introduce him to Adrien and Félix. The bad thing was that Adrien turned out to be very allergic. Marinette tried to shoo the insistent bird away, but to no avail.

 In the end, Félix took Adrien home after assuring her and her parents that he would be fine once he had taken his medication.

 

Adrien returned the next day without Félix and seemed to be in very high spirits. The question as to why that was, was easily answered with the bag full of beads and string Adrien had brought with him.

“I want it to be a surprise for Fé, so I said he should spend the day somewhere else today,” he explained as they ascended the stairs to Marinette’s room.

“I thought it would be fun to make lucky charms together. I’m not very good at it myself. But…uh…you know that already.”

She did. The _necklace_ he had given her before he had visited this family friend of his, was anything but fashionable- He luckily has made it long enough so that she could wear it under her shirt. His choice of using dried berries instead of beads was…interesting, to say the least. His reasoning had been some superstition that those berries would prevent bad things from happening, or something like that. It had been such a sweet and thoughtful gift and he had looked so hopeful and pleading when he had given it to her that she did not have the heart to just put it in a box or hang it up in her room somewhere. Besides, Adrien had asked no less than five times already in the last three days if she was wearing it.

“It’s probably much easier with beads than with berries, so don’t worry about it,” Marinette assured him.

When they were done setting everything up—including Marinette’s own collection of beads, as well as some examples of lucky charms, necklaces and bracelets she had made in the past—Adrien was vibrating in his chair with excitement. It was quite cute how he got so excited about such simple things.

This was no comparison to his expression when he eventually finished his first lucky charm though. Marinette half-expected him to jump out of his chair and happily bounce around the room right then and there. He did no such thing though. Instead, he started another lucky charm right away and another afterwards. Only two hours later he had finished six lucky charms in total.

“Who are you making those for?”

Adrien paused his work to show her every single one of his finished charms. He was _so proud_.

“This one is for Félix,” he said as he held up a charm that consisted of grey, black and teal beads with a crescent moon-shaped bead in the middle. The one for his father was made out of black, white and red beads with a bead shaped like a cat face in the centre. It was not what she personally would have chosen for the famous designer, but she supposed that Adrien knew his father better than she did.

The next one—black, white and blue beads with an oriental-looking bead with an eye painted on it—was for someone called Nathalie. He had talked about her before and from what Marinette had gathered she was something like a nanny. When asked, Adrien explained that Nathalie was his father’s assistant and has been his mother’s best friend.

Marinette was surprised when Adrien said the white, blue and sea-green one with the seal-shaped bead was made for Sabrina. Of course he would know Sabrina. After all, he knew Chloé. When she asked why he would give her a lucky charm, his excited smile morphed into a bittersweet one. He looked guilty.

“I’ve known her since I was a little kid. We were very good friends, but I ended up…saying too much. It is my fault that she is following Chloé around now. Anyway, she can use all the luck she can get these days, so this might be a good gift for her.”

There seemed to be much more to the story, but Marinette wasn’t going to pry. After all, it seemed to be hard for him to talk about it.

The next lucky charm was for the friend of their family Félix and he had stayed with the previous week. Marinette frowned. Whatever had happened on that visit had upset Adrien, even though he seemed to be mostly over it by now.

His last finished lucky charm was presented to her with such pride, yet sadness that she almost teared up.

It was for his mother.

His mother that he told her had gone missing less than a year ago. She had known that of course—it had been on the news and had even been mentioned in fashion magazines that talked about Gabriel Agreste. To hear it from Adrien himself and seeing how much the loss affected him almost broke her heart though.

He gently brushed his thumb over the middle piece of the lucky charm—a green cat eye. Not a bead in the shape of a cat’s eye, but a real cat eye gem that he must have bought just to make this lucky charm.

The hug surprised them both—Marinette because she had not realised that she was going in for a hug at all, it was just an automatic response; Adrien because he had been looking intently at the lucky charm in his hand. When both of them had gotten over the initial shock, Adrien relaxed in her arms and hugged her back. He did not cry, did not even give the slightest indication of it, but she could tell that he wanted to. By the way he gripped her shirt and hid his head in her neck it was obvious that he was in desperate need for comfort.

They sat there and hugged each other for what probably were several minutes but which felt like hours. Marinette soothingly stroked his back while Adrien just held very still and remained silent. When they eventually separated, he threw her a thankful smile and immediately went back to work on his seventh lucky charm.

It took at least ten minutes until Marinette built up the courage to ask who that charm was for. He then threw her the softest smile she had ever seen on his face.

“It’s for you.”

 

 

“He liked it!” Adrien said in place of a greeting as he burst into Marinette’s room the next morning and she gave a startled squeak. Her parents had probably let him in and apparently, they saw no harm in letting Adrien into her room while she was sitting at her desk in her pyjamas. She had been sketching a design before she had been interrupted and now went on the search for her pencil, which she had thrown halfway across the room.

“Who liked what?” She asked while she fished out the pencil from underneath her chaise lounge and tried very hard to not be embarrassed about her current attire.

“Fé liked the lucky charm I made him! He also really liked that name bracelet you made for him. He told me to tell you ‘thanks’ in his place by the way.” Adrien beamed and could not stand still.

“That’s great,” Marinette replied and sat back down to resume her sketching while Adrien continued with his excited ramblings about everyone’s reactions to their lucky charms.

“What is this?” He asked after a while and she turned around to see what he was referring to. He was holding her jar with coloured water and oil that she had made a few years ago with Nino. Her water had been coloured pink while his had been blue. They later had laughed about how stereotypical their favourite colours were.

“A jar with coloured water and oil in it,” she replied.

“What does it do?” He asked as he carefully regarded it.

“It is sort of a homemade lava lamp. You’ll see what I mean when you shake it.” Adrien did just that and then let out a gasp of delight.

“It’s pretty!”

“It was prettier when it was new,” she said with a frown as she regarded the now muddled colours in the jar.

“Tell you what, we will make a new one and you can keep it, but only when you go downstairs for a bit so I can get dressed.” It was kind of embarrassing to explicitly point out the latter, especially when Adrien’s view then drifted to her pyjamas.

“But the little pandas are so cute,” he commented with a tilted head, which made Marinette cross her arms in front of her chest and throw him an unamused look.

“ _Adrien._ ” Her warning tone seemed to get her point across and he dashed down the stairs, but not without throwing her a grin and a wink. Like every teenage girl would do, she then threw herself into analytics of _what the hell that had meant_ while she was getting dressed.

 

 

Without really noticing it, they fell into a rhythm. Adrien and Félix would stand on her doorstep in the late mornings or early afternoons—or more specifically in her living room since her parents always let them in before she had the chance to. They would then eat together and afterwards spend the day however they liked. Before the twins would go home, they would get to taste the experimental confectionary creation of the day. If they liked it—which more often than not was the case—they were given more of it in a box to take home.

Each of these days had at least one highlight that made it stand out. Be it a unique activity or a unique incident.

Like the one time they went to the nearby park—Adrien and Félix both in disguise of course—to eat the croissants her father had baked them. A squirrel had then decided to steal Adrien’s chocolate croissant in a moment when he was not paying enough attention. Marinette still didn’t know what had become of the squirrel.

She just remembered Adrien taking off after it as if it had just stolen his most precious possession and Félix telling her to just wait for him to return. When Adrien had returned without his croissant and with the squirrel nowhere in sight, he just wore a mysterious grin and said that he had _dealt with it._

Another time, Adrien had become fascinated with the concept of homemade popsicles. Marinette spent half an hour to get the cherry juice out of his white shirt.

 

 

The day Adrien convinced her to wear one of the ridiculous, cheap masquerade masks they had bought on their shopping trip, was the day they visited a bookshop. Félix followed them at a distance which he explained as ‘necessary to avoid association’. It was probably not the worst idea since they _did_ get a lot of strange looks. The good thing of wearing said disguise was that it also hid Marinette’s embarrassed blush. Adrien, meanwhile, seemed to thoroughly enjoy the confusion he was causing among the other pedestrians.

When they arrived at the narrow bookshop on the south bank of the Seine, Adrien’s full attention was immediately on the shop’s cat. Both he and Marinette petted the brown striped feline until it was nothing more than a purring furball.

As they ventured further into the shop in the search for Félix, who had disappeared during their cuddle session with the cat, they noticed that _Shakespeare and Company_ was anything but a regular bookshop. Books were crammed into every possible space and after just a few rooms and up one set of stairs, Marinette had absolutely lost any sense of orientation. The hordes of tourists were not helping either. All the while, the cat followed them. Or better said, it followed Adrien, weaving around his legs as he walked but not causing him to trip even once.

When they were about to enter another room, Adrien suddenly stopped, which made her accidentally walk into his back. His explanation was a mischievous grin and a finger on his lips, telling her to be quiet.

Then he started sneaking into the next room and was impossibly noiseless while doing do. His posture indicated that he was about to jump on something, which rather turned out to be a some _one_ because one second later there was a small crash and exclamation of “Really, Adrien!?”

Marinette rounded the corner to see Félix on the floor, Adrien victoriously lying on top of him and the cat rubbing against Félix’s face in an obvious sign of affection. She could not help but burst out laughing at the sight.

“Sure, _laugh_ at my misery.” The disdain in his voice just made the whole situation even more hilarious.

Similar _attacks_ on Félix happened throughout the day, with the shop cat constantly changing sides on a whim. It was funny how she stuck to the twins as if they were her favourite people in the world.

Whenever Félix sat down on one of the comfy chairs or sofas to read a book, either Adrien or Marinette would come out of nowhere and scare him. It was particularly easy to do so when he was immersed in a book, especially for Marinette who was not nearly as silent as Adrien was in her sneaky approaches. Still, just about a third of those attacks actually worked and after a while Félix seemed to get annoyed with the both of them.

This was when they decided to go on the quest to find the exit of the bookshop. And a quest it was, because the many similar rooms and never-ending rows of books did not help much to get a sense of direction. It took them more than half an hour to find the entrance again, but them stopping more than once to pet the very insistently present cat also contributed to that.

From time to time they caught other visitors throwing them strange looks and just a few moments later they would remember that they were wearing ridiculous-looking masquerade masks. They usually came to the conclusion at the same time every time it happened and one look at each other was enough to burst out laughing.

If anyone would have told her two months ago that she would sneak around in a labyrinth-like bookshop with Adrien Agreste, while both of them wore glittery masks and were being followed by a cat, she would have highly recommended to them to find a good psychiatrist. It was funny how fast things could change sometimes.

 

With falling into this pattern of constant visits and adventures, the days on which they did _not_ come to see her became even more lonely than they otherwise would have been. Marinette found herself growing restless, sketching the entire day and working on yet another new design project to pass the time. She went downstairs more than once and asked her parents if anyone had come by. No one had. It was plainly obvious what she was really asking though.

She ended up joining in her father’s baking experiments and made an experiment of her own, involving a recipe she had seen on Pinterest and some pointers from her parents on how to _fix_ said recipe. The resulting marzipan-strawberry cake tasted at least acceptable. She had only baked a small one to not waste too many ingredients and she put the rest of it into the fridge. If the twins would come back the next day, they could try some of it too.

 

In the following few days a new system was established. Said system involved two new phones Adrien and Félix had gotten themselves with the help of their mysterious family friend. They had not been able to give Marinette their number so far because their phones’ activities were regularly watched by Nathalie and their father— _controlling much?_

With said new, independent phones, they finally had a way to keep in contact with her without personally showing up and without letting anyone know about her existence. It was strange how _she_ ended up being the one people were not allowed to know about, since barely anyone knew about her anyway. It gave the whole thing a certain thrill, making her almost feel like a secret spy.

Adrien having her number of course also meant that Marinette ended up suffering through an onslaught of cat memes once he departed that day.

 

When rain started to fall and did not want to stop for several days, the three of them spent the majority of their time in Marinette’s room, watching silly videos or anime on the internet. Félix would sometimes join them but more often than not, he would withdraw to the living room to read a book or even converse with her parents.

Marinette quickly found out that Adrien’s taste concerning anime and cartoons was all over the place and he practically liked everything. What was a little strange was his sense of humour though. He would laugh at scenes that were meant to be suspenseful or even horrifying and he sometimes even was confused or bored when obvious jokes were made. She supposed it was due to his sheltered life style or he just had a peculiar sense of humour by nature.

When the twins one day brought their Nintendo 3DSes with them, as well as all of their games, they ended up playing Animal Crossing New Leaf together for the entirety of the afternoon.

It was all fun and games at first, with Adrien gushing over Kiki that lived in Marinette’s village. Of course he would be the one to gush over the only black cat villager. After he was done going through what probably was every possible dialogue option with Kiki, he started wandering around town and continuing his prank war with Félix in a virtual form by burying traps everywhere. Unfortunately, Marinette fell into said traps about just as often as Félix did.

After about an hour of this nonsense, Félix and she eventually teamed up to get Adrien back for it. While he was in another villager’s home, the both of them buried as many traps as they could find in a circle around the house’s entrance, which left Adrien no choice but to fall into at least one the traps.

He was pouting for the next ten minutes and called Félix an unfair trickster and Marinette a traitor.

 

When the weather started getting better again, it got better _quick_. The temperature rose to record heights for August, which let Marinette get creative in her way to _cool down_.

Said creativeness translated to a merciless water gun battle that involved water bombs as well, outside in the park. They were mindful not to disturb other parkgoers with their fun, but a few kids were seemingly inspired by their antics, so they joined forces with them. Needless to say, it turned into a full-on water _war_ shortly after.

Marinette surprised the twins with her good aim—years of precise sewing work did have its perks when it came to pinpointing details, or in this case, targets. Félix and Adrien, meanwhile, were pretty evenly matched, with the only difference being Félix’s displeased quiet hisses whenever he was hit. Adrien found that hilarious for some reason, which motivated him even more to hit his brother.

When they returned to Marinette’s house shortly afterwards, they were fully soaked, which gave Marinette the idea to lie down on her balcony to dry. It had only taken five minutes and both boys had been fast asleep. Only the smell of pastries had managed to wake them up half an hour later.

 

It was a few days after that when they went to the zoo, together with Marinette’s parents. Her mother enthusiastically took about as many pictures of them as she did of the animals. Even though Marinette could not see Adrien’s eyes through the sunglasses, she would have bet money on them sparkling the entire time. He was very excited, even for his standards.

What was undoubtedly the highlight of the day was when they went to the big felines. The previously dozing snow leopard raised its head and then trotted over to the glass, putting its paws on it and looking at them. Adrien immediately mimicked the big feline and put his hands where its paws were on the other side of the glass with a huge grin. The leopard then started rubbing its head on the glass, as if it wanted to cuddle Adrien, which was adorable. Marinette filmed all of it of course.

It would have been a cute coincidence, if it would not have been for this very same thing repeating with all the other felines as well. It didn’t matter if it was Félix or Adrien who was closest to the glass, the big cats would stroll over and show as much as affection as possible through the barrier.

Marinette thought back to the bookshop where the cat had followed both of them and came to the conclusion that the twins both were some sort of cat magnet. It was bizarre but in a weird sense also quite cool actually.

She still would not want them to meet the lions or any other big felines without any barrier between them and also told Adrien as much when he proposed talking to one of the caretakers if they were allowed into the cages. Besides, it was probably illegal to let someone who was not part of the staff, and who was a famous model no less, into a cage with semi-wild predators.

 

In an earlier conversation it had come up that Marinette did not know how to skateboard. Not just that, but that she was an absolute disaster when it came to keeping her balance. Well, she was not famous for her clumsiness for nothing. Adrien, though, was either not really grasping the extent of her clumsiness or he was reckless since he seemed convinced that she could master the art of skateboarding without any pre-established coordination skills.

Marinette had expected to fall. A lot. And she did, so that much was going as predicted. What she had not expected was for Adrien to catch her before she hit the ground. Every. Single. Time.

She had no idea how he did it. One moment he was ten metres away from her, giving her instructions and in the next he was diving to catch her before she hit the concrete. It was so baffling that she at once point asked him if he knew how to teleport. He just gave her a mysterious grin as a reply.

 

That evening, when she had just gotten out of the shower, she found her phone on the floor. She at first had no clue how it had gotten there until there was a crash and her pencil holder fell from the desk as well, spilling pencils all over her floor. In place of said pencil holder now stood a very smug looking black cat that looked over the edge of the desk to regard his work.

“Kitty!” she said, which made the feline jump and then snap its head in her direction. He gave a happy meow when he saw her and jumped down from the desk to weave around her pyjama-clad legs with a purr.

“I haven’t seen you in a month,” she said and bent down to pet the black cat. The purr just got louder.

Suddenly there was a weird noise that was not the cat’s purr. Marinette needed a moment to place it and then practically jumped to get her vibrating phone up from the ground. She breathed out a sigh of relief to see that the screen was still intact. She accepted the call without even looking who it was.

“Hello?”

The cat jumped up at her legs and gave a pitiful meow, obviously discontent to be ignored. To appease him she sat down on the chaise lounge and let him jump up on her lap to pet him.

“Marinette, this is an emergency!” Adrien’s voice came from the other end.

“What happened?” She was immediately worried. Had something bad happened? Had they been found out and were not able to come anymore? Then again, Adrien had said emergency, but he had sounded happily excited. It was probably best to just hear him out before jumping to more conclusions. Even the cat headbutted her, which she took as a sign to calm down.

“Father and Nathalie are going on a business trip to Milan for the weekend and they will leave on Thursday!”

She did not immediately get why this was supposed to be great news.

“And?”

“That means we can come with you on your vacation!”

Ah, yes. The vacation. Marinette had told them that her parents and she were going to visit a friend of her _Nonna_ who lived by the sea and would spend three days there. It was a small trip, but it was vacation nonetheless. Adrien had first treated it like the end of the world—“Three whole days without you Marinette! This is a _cat_ astrophe!”—but then quickly had changed to ‘plan mode’ by searching for the best way to escape from his home for three entire days and come with them instead. To be honest, neither of them had thought that a joint vacation would have been possible.

“You do know that we still have to ask my parents, right?”

“Yeah, but I bet they’ll be thrilled!”

“I don’t know. I mean, it would be great to have you two come along, but you can’t just invite yourselves to a family vacation out of nowhere like that.”

“Yeah Adrien, stop being rude,” came Félix’s voice from the background. Apparently, Adrien had her on speaker phone.

The cat gave the phone a swat with its paw, seeming displeased by its distracting presence.

“Don’t, kitty,” Marinette said and shifted the phone to her other ear while resuming to pet the cat with her other hand.

“What did you say?” Félix asked.

“Oh, I just have a stray cat visiting who demands my full attention right now.”

She could have sworn to have heard Félix mumble something along the lines of “of course he does” but was then quickly interrupted by Adrien’s voice again.

“Can you ask your parents _pretty please?_ ” At the tone, the image of his puppy eyes appeared in her head.

“You can ask them yourselves tomorrow.”

“See, that’s the thing. I have a photoshoot tomorrow and Félix has to come with me. We can’t miss out on too many of them or father will notice how often we’re absent. I don’t know if it would be too late to ask on Tuesday since you’re already going there on Thursday.”

Marinette sighed. “Alright, I’ll ask, but don’t get your hopes up.”

 

Turns out that her parents were thrilled, just as Adrien had predicted they would be. Marinette had to admit that taking people outside of her family with them on a family vacation was weird. Not unwelcome, just…unusual. Sure, they had done a lot of trips with the Lahiffes, but never a joint vacation. Wouldn’t it be too early for something like this? It felt like everything happened way too fast. After all, she barely knew the twins for two months at this point and now they would already partake in a sacred family tradition. She just hoped everything would go well.

 

Before said vacation would commence, however, there were still a few days to kill. On one of those days, Adrien and Félix managed to actually convince Nathalie to free their schedule completely. It was one of the very first days on which they visited Marinette on which they had _not_ snuck out of the house. They decided to celebrate it by going outside, in disguises of course—how they had managed to officially leave the house without anyone noticing those outfits was a mystery to her.

That day, their goal was a mini golf course. It always baffled her how much the two of them had never actually done and playing mini golf was one of those things.

After explaining the rules to them, they quickly found a lot of fun in the game. Marinette, who had played many times before, was the best out of the three of them. Adrien just tried to hit the ball as hard as possible and regularly hit it out of bounds that way. He had a few lucky hits, but mostly he played like one would expect a beginner to play like.

Félix was a completely different story though. His method was precision and when said precision failed him, he started to get unusually worked up about it, blaming the unevenness of the course and the cheap balls. At one point he had even declared his club to be defective and had demanded Marinette to hand over hers so they would be more evenly matched. Needless to say, it made no difference.

Marinette, to no one’s surprise, ended up winning the round and Félix, to his great displeasure, lost it. He was furious and demanded a rematch, which Adrien only too gladly seconded.

There was not much difference to the next round, except that Adrien got less lucky hits. Marinette won again, but Félix was on the second place this time. He seemed content enough with that. Adrien, for his part, did not mind losing and found it more fun to draw cat doodles on the sheets of paper on which they marked down the scores.

As Marinette’s personal tradition went for mini golf, they went to eat ice cream afterwards. Adrien, thrilled by the options on the menu, ordered the biggest and most expensive sundae that was advertised with ‘who manages to eat all of it pays half the price’. He was more intrigued by the challenge than the prospect of paying less money.

To Marinette’s surprise, Adrien actually _did_ manage to eat the entire giant sundae all by himself and he even had room in his stomach left for dinner afterwards. At least now she was for certain that whatever model diet he was on was thoroughly unnecessary. One simply was not a black hole for food without ever having eaten such amounts of food in one go before. How he managed to retain his model figure was a mystery to her.

Then again, it was probably genetic, since Félix developed a similar appetite when her father set down two batches of lasagne that evening. He had made two just to be sure they all had enough, but what he had not counted on was for Adrien and Félix to eat one whole and then still be hungry. Marinette just hoped they were not starved at home.

 

 

Thursday eventually dawned. Adrien and Marinette excitedly texted back and forth, informing each other on their state of packing. She had to repeatedly tell Adrien to pack less because his already giant suitcase was overflowing. One would think he would be gone for a month instead of for a weekend.

At least Félix seemed a little more reasonable with his luggage, which was a relief because she did not know how they would manage to get all of those suitcases into their car otherwise.

When the twins eventually stood in front of the bakery, both with a small suitcase each—apparently Félix had managed to convince Adrien to reconsider his packing methods—Marinette greeted both of them with a hug.

“It’s so great that you can come along!” she said excitedly while her parents appeared from behind the car to take the twins’ suitcases.

“We haven’t been on vacation for years!” Adrien admitted equally enthusiastic and trotted after her parents to help them.

“Really?” Her mother asked and Marinette could already tell this would be one of the most extravagant vacations ever.

 

The car ride itself was already an adventure all on its own since neither Adrien nor Félix seemed to have ever been on any sort of vacation or road trip by car before. Or at least not in the usual ‘we’re going on vacation’ setting that Marinette was used to.

They didn’t know about the games where one would look for funny-looking signs or count cars of a specific colour. When Marinette suggested the latter to them, they immediately jumped on the idea. Adrien won multiple times since there apparently were much more red cars than blue or green cars around.

Also the snacks that her mother handed them from the passenger seat were met with great enthusiasm.

After a while Marinette felt the sleep she had been deprived of that morning catch up with her so she decided to finally make use of the pillow she brought and take a nap. She was a little embarrassed when she woke up half an hour later and realised that she had opted for Adrien’s shoulder rather than the pillow in her sleep. Her apologies were just met with amused grins though, so she let it drop.

When they finally arrived in the late afternoon, all of them stretched their stiff limbs, while Adrien and Félix both managed to make it look graceful.

_Goddamn models…_

Her _Nonna_ ’s friend did not seem very thrilled to have two more guests, but Adrien quickly won her over by gushing about how good the food was.

After dinner, they were all pretty much ready to go to bed, but Adrien and Félix surprised her once again by having unnaturally much energy left. Adrien then produced a deck of Uno cards which he had hidden somewhere in his suitcase. This resulted in two very competitive hours of the three of them playing Uno. Félix won most of the games.

When Adrien got bored after losing three times in a row, he decided it would be fun to try and build a tower out of the cards. They managed to stack up two layers before it fell.

 

Even though Adrien had said that he had gone to the beach before and Marinette presumed that that was also the way for Félix, one would have never guessed it by the way the twins were _worshipping_ the ocean. Once it was in sight, there was no stopping for them. They threw their beach bags at Marinette’s feet before excitedly dashing into the water. Hearing Félix squeal, very appalled, at the coldness of said water was one of the funniest things she had ever seen him do and she would keep it in mind for future reference.

Adrien, on the other hand, had probably been a sea creature in another life by the way he seemed determined to spend all day in the water. He was coaxed out of it by Marinette who had started building a sand castle out of lack for inspiration and Adrien watched the progress with great curiosity. It was no masterpiece, but it might just help her get out of her art block.

Of course she should have expected that Adrien would copy her, quickly starting to build a sand castle of his own. Félix, who had opted for a book as a way to spend his time, soon joined them, not wanting to be outdone by his brother. It all turned into a competition of who could build the best sand castle and if Marinette was anything, it was competitive.

They let her parents be the judges which resulted in Félix being declared the winner— _those traitors!_

Afterwards they decided to take a stroll at the beach. Not too far, but just to see what else it offered. Adrien and Marinette were collecting shells while Félix just walked beside them with a slow pace and his usual silence. He only came to life when Adrien suddenly let out a squeal of delight and held up a stone with a hole in it.

_Coming to life_ in that case meant to freak out as if Adrien had just picked up a poisonous jellyfish. He took the stone out of Adrien’s hand faster than Marinette could look and then hissed something to his brother in a language she did not understand. Huh, she would have to ask them how many languages they _did_ actually speak.

 

The next day was not spent at the beach but at a theme park that was nearby. Adrien and Félix, who both had never been to any kind of theme park before were very excited. As it turned out, they were neither scared of heights, nor of fast rollercoasters nor of haunted houses. They actually found the latter absolutely hilarious. Marinette had the urge to apologize to the poor workers once they left said haunted house, but didn’t bring up the courage to do so. Only the mirror labyrinth managed to teach the twins some humility, since neither of the two managed to tell what was a mirror or a glass wall and what was not. Constant curses were heard, especially from Félix who suddenly didn’t find any fun in the whole thing anymore.

Overall, they had an amazing time at the theme park, even managing to make the waits for the attractions entertaining by having Félix point out several people who were acting _ridiculous_ and commenting on how rude it was for some to cut in line. Adrien would then try to start a friendly talk with them and tell them that they could not just do that, to which he often got snarky replies or even excuses of ‘it’s okay though’ which Adrien often fell for.

When they returned home that evening, they were all pretty tired from walking around all day, which made them decide to lie down on the lawn chairs on the terrace and just nap for a while.

When Marinette woke up again, it was already dark. The temperature had not fallen much though, so it was still comfortable outside. She looked to the side and saw Adrien intently looking up at the night sky. She followed his view and gasped.

Living in Paris, she often forgot how beautiful the night sky looked in other parts of the world. She could only ever see a few stars, rarely enough to make out a full constellation. Here though, with very little light pollution, the sky stretched out in front of her in its starry beauty. She could even faintly see the milky way, which was something she had never seen before.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Adrien said and Marinette just smiled.

“Yeah.”

“I wish we could see the stars like this back in Paris. It’s sad that it’s called the city of lights but the most beautiful lights are never seen there.”

“I have never seen so many stars before.”

At that, Adrien turned his head to her. “I thought you have been here before.”

“I have,” she confirmed, “but I guess I have never really looked at the night sky before. It’s not something I think about very often to be honest.”

“You should think about it more. It’s very fascinating,” Félix threw in from the other side of the terrace. He had, to her surprise, left his lawn chair and was now lying on the ground on a blanket with…a book. How he could make out any of the words in this darkness was a mystery to her.

“Did you know that there is a black hole in the centre of the milky way and we’re circling around it?” Adrien threw in enthusiastically and pointed up at the sky. “The part of the milky way you see there is from the side. It’s actually a huge swirl.”

“I didn’t know the black hole thing,” Marinette admitted sheepishly. She had never paid much attention to space phenomena before. The most she knew were the names of the planets of the solar system.

“Do you know any constellations? I could show you some,” Adrien offered and by the way he said it, he seemed to have waited for an opportunity like this for a long time already. It would be downright cruel to deny him.

“I only know the great dipper,” Marinette said which lead to the two of them laying down on the blanket with Félix. The three of them stayed up half the night while Adrien pointed out different constellations.

She had seen him excited for new things before, seen him smile when he found something he liked or laugh at something he found funny. None of that was in any way comparable to the sheer joy he radiated as he explained the different constellations and their origins to her. From time to time he would even point out single stars or star clusters and tell her what they really were and how they were discovered.

It was then that she noticed that apart from minor things like video games or anime, she had never seen him be truly passionate about something. So far it had always just been titbits of random knowledge he had thrown in here and there, but it had never been anything he could have or would have talked about for hours on end.

She didn’t know when it happened, but she had stopped seeing him as _Adrien Agreste, the famous model_ and started regarding him as _Adrien, who was her friend_. Seeing him being so ardent made him seem slightly more _real_ , for a lack of a better word. Like he was not just an easily excited and friendly presence in her life, but also a person of his own with a life outside of seeing her. Of course she had _known_ that he existed outside of his frequent visits to her house, but since he had never talked much about his home life, it had just always lacked something personal.

It was weird how the reality of that only registered with her then and there, when they were laying on a blanket at her _Nonna_ ’s friend’s beach house and looking at the stars. Not just that, but she felt truly comfortable. A different kind of comfortable than she felt with Nino, but it held the same safety and trust that came with friendships.

 

 

“Adrien?”

“Hmm?” He was sprawled out on her chaise lounge, looking through some casual mandarin phrases her mother had written down for him. She had been ecstatic to have someone she could speak her native tongue with and was determined to teach the twins some of the more regular sentences instead of the formal speech they had learned so far.

Meanwhile, Marinette was sitting in front of a large pile of clothes that he had just casually handed to her in a sack that morning. It was the promised collection of his and Félix’s clothes that would have otherwise landed in the trash. Looking through it was highly inspiring, but since they were still clothes Adrien and Félix had both worn, it also seemed a little more personal than it should be.

“I really like this dress shirt and I think I could change the cut to make it fit me. Would that be weird? I mean, I would only wear it at home anyway…”

“Why would that be weird? It’ll probably look better on you than it ever looked on me anyway,” Adrien replied with a grin.

“I’ll doubt that Monsieur Model.”

“Why doubt, when believing in things makes the world so much more colourful?”

“Is that a reference to something?”

“No, just a thought.” The smile he threw her was not his usual grin. It was smaller, but not less warm. On the contrary even. His smile was secretive, as if he had just entrusted her with a great secret. A fond smile that spoke volumes. Until he turned away and focused on the notes again.

Only then did Marinette realise that she had only been familiar with Adrien’s philosophical way to word things from his notes. This was the first time she had ever heard him _say_ something like that.

If what Nino had theorized held true, then that meant that, at least to a certain degree, Adrien trusted her enough to let her see such a personal side of him. It also meant that they were becoming better friends.

 

Hadn’t she dreaded a boring summer on the first day of summer break? She had never been happier to admit that she had been very wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case any of you were confused as to how Adrien could be in Marinette's room as a cat and be on the phone at the same time, let me remind you that according to him, Félix and he often pretend to be each other without it ever being noticed. Imitating Adrien's voice should therefore not come very hard to Félix. And no, he did not approve of Adrien sneaking out as a cat to see Marinette, but Adrien just does what he wants. Seriously, he does. This whole scene was not planned but it snuck in there somehow. Guess he was very desperate for some cuddle time with Marinette. x3
> 
> * * *
> 
> I'm coming along great with all the chapters so far. I was able to merge 4 into 2, so I have not as many chapters to write as I previously thought, which is amazing! I think I won't have trouble to stick to the Tuesday and Sunday schedule for this month, though I won't promise anything for next month! Take this as a christmas present from me. ;D


	14. Why Faeries Should Not Bake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The return of Nino!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie, this chapter is kind of a mess. I might be rushing too much and the quality suffers from it, which is shitty, I know. :'c  
> A huge thanks to [Draxynnic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draxynnic/) for saving my ass and beta-reading this last minute. It would have been so much worse without you! ;A;

When the summer was about to come to an end, it also meant the return of Nino. Adrien had been curious about this friend of Marinette’s ever since he had first heard of him. Seeing him in person was definitely different than seeing him on a phone screen or in pictures. The part that stuck out to him the most was that Nino was particularly close to Marinette. Of course he had already known that, but in some way, it still irked him.

Nino’s return had been sudden and the first he had heard of it was when Marinette had sent him a text the previous day that Nino was back and they were hanging out. He had seethed over this message. His initial plan to befriend Marinette’s childhood friend seemed not as important as it once was as the cat in him yearned to show Nino just _who_ Marinette belonged to.

The thing was just: She _didn’t_ belong to him.

Félix never tired of reminding him of that simple fact over and over again. Especially when he had been about to text Marinette back, asking why she hadn't mentioned that her friend would soon be returning.

His brother had also felt the need to plainly point out that the date of Nino’s arrival _had_ , in fact, been mentioned before but that Adrien had just not been attentive enough to listen and remember it.

The fact that he had missed something so obvious annoyed him. What annoyed him even more though was seeing Nino and Marinette interact. There was a trust and companionship about them that he did not have with her. It was not unlike his relationship to Félix, but they were _siblings_ , that was something different.

“Hey dudes, nice to finally meet you in person!” Nino said cheerfully as Adrien entered the living room of the Dupain-Chengs that morning. He was very early on purpose since he had wanted to be there before Nino would have a chance to show up. What he had not counted on was that Nino had spent the night at Marinette’s place.

Something that he correctly recognised as jealousy boiled inside him. Marinette had never asked _him_ to stay over and have a sleepover!

“Nice to meet you too,” Adrien replied with a smile that was actually a snarl in disguise. He took Nino’s offered hand though his grip was a little stronger than was polite.

“Likewise,” Félix replied much more civilly though he did not shake Nino’s hand as Adrien had done. What he did instead was to give his brother a subtle glance that said ‘quit it, you idiot.’ It was probably for the best since at this point there would not be much left until Adrien would start growling.

“Why are you so early?” Marinette groaned from where she sat slumped over the kitchen table, head on the surface. Adrien's concern spiked at the sight.

“Are you alright?” He asked, rushing over to her.

“No. You’re all disgusting morning people,” she grumbled and frowned at him.

“Yeah, don’t drag her out of bed before eight,” Nino supplied, which made Adrien throw a scowl his way. It was probably as much displeasure as he could show before it would border on impolite. The boy just laughed in return and held up his hands in surrender.

“I didn’t do anything, dude. Marinette set an alarm because of something involving the sunrise and had trouble falling back asleep afterwards.”

“You let me stay up until two, you traitor,” Marinette complained weakly, but there was a small lift of the corner of her mouth. She was just teasing. It was more frustrating than he would have thought possible that the teasing was not directed at him. Félix seemed to pick up on it and just threw him an unimpressed glare.

“Anyway,” Marinette continued and dragged herself into an upright position, “ _Maman_ and _Papa_ are out of the house today, so we have the kitchen to ourselves. How about we bake something?”

“Oh man, yes _please_! Tom’s combination of gummy bears, chocolate and marzipan yesterday was definitely not the kind of baked goods I’ve missed for over a month!” Nino made a disgusted face, which made Adrien tilt his head. That sounded good actually.

“Do you have some of that left?” He asked Marinette who just cringed.

“Yes, but you do not want to try it, trust me.”

“Why did you keep it when it apparently tastes revolting?” Félix, who had comfortably settled down on the sofa, asked with the kind of tone that Adrien knew he used when he already knew the answer to a question he had asked.

“Because apparently it’s not _officially_ horrible until you two have tried it as well.”

“Based on both of your reactions to the sheer mention of it, I will pass on any samples.”

“I’ll try it!” Adrien immediately declared which drew an eyeroll out of Marinette as well as a mutter of ‘of course he would.’

“Don’t blame me when you won’t like it,” she said and got up. “Are you coming too, Félix?”

“To see my brother suffer from eating an atrocious pastry? Do you even have to ask?”

And so, they went downstairs into the bakery’s kitchen, where another fridge stood. It was for preparing dough or something like that. Adrien had to admit that the tour of the kitchen already lay a few weeks past and he did not remember every single detail.

“Last chance to back down,” Marinette said as she handed him a slice of what looked like a chocolate cake with molten gummy bears in it. What she had failed to mention earlier was that there were also nuts on the top, as well as cherries in the middle. He was not allergic to either and neither were those things were poisonous for his kind, but the combination seemed…not particularly tasty.

“No, I’ll suffer with you,” Adrien said as she handed him a pastry fork and he placed a generously big chunk of cake on it. Five seconds later he was filled with regret.

“Oh, by D- god, this is _awful!_ ” He gagged and was very thankful for Marinette’s foresight as she immediately handed him a glass of water.

“They told you so,” Félix rather unhelpfully remarked with an amused grin. It earned him a glare. _Smartass._

“Alright, now how about we bake something that actually tastes good?” Nino asked and for once, Adrien had to agree with him. What he could really use was something like the strawberry-marzipan cake Marinette had once baked. She was probably as good as her parents when it came to baking.

“Just who includes ‘we’ in that?” Félix asked, seeming ready to bolt for the door.

“All four of us, no excuses,” Marinette said and just from the look in her eyes one would have never known that she had been slumped over a table from fatigue just five minutes ago. _That_ look meant trouble.

 

Both Adrien and Félix had actively avoided the kitchen for the entire summer, excluding the tour they had gotten that one time. Excuses, some better than others, had always prevented any involvement, but it seemed like their luck had officially run out.

It was not out of a dislike for the craft, but simply their absolute inability to perform it. If an inexperienced human could make a _mess_ of a kitchen—Marinette had told them many stories from when she was a kid and had caused all sorts of messes—then two _Cat Sidhe_ would most likely get the kitchen completely _destroyed_.

Even Mélusine, who was about a hundred times older than they were, was unable to bake. If she couldn’t do it after centuries of trying and trying again, then there was no way in Tír na nÓg that Adrien and Félix would grasp it in the span of a day.

“I feel the need to remind you about what happened with the French Toast and will therefore repeat my statement from back then: This is a horrible idea.”

Félix was at least able to put it politely. All Adrien could think was ‘oh shit’ on constant repeat.

“Now don’t be dramatic, it’ll be fine,” Marinette said with a worrying lack of concern. “This is an easy recipe.”

“French Toast is even easier and I was able to mess _that_ up. I would suggest to reconsider who you want involved in this…undertaking.”

“You’re never going to learn if you don’t try.”

“We’re not going to learn even if we _do_ try,” Adrien heard himself mutter, but only Nino, who was standing right next to him, seemed to pick that up.

“Dude, you’ll be fine. Don’t stress yourself out about it.”

Oh, it was not his _wellbeing_ that Adrien was worried about. It was rather Marinette’s opinion of him after he would make an absolute mess of their baking project and the entire kitchen. He regarded the ingredients that sat in front of him, innocent-looking and yet untouched. He felt sorry for all all of them for their inevitable ruin.

“Do not expect this to turn out to be a masterpiece is all I’m saying,” Félix sniffed, seemingly resigning himself to his fate. Adrien cringed. That was putting it mildly.

“We don’t. But it’ll still taste good, I promise,” Marinette said confidently.

Adrien decided to not comment on that and concentrate on the recipe instead. He could at least _try_.

Basically, it did look easy. Just a list of ingredients that had to be measured and put together in the right way. If it would have been anything else, a potion for example or even a soup, didn’t matter, then Adrien might have had a more optimistic view of the outcome. Baking though, was the exception, especially for the Unseelie.

He did not exactly know _why_ it was like this, he just knew that it simply was how things were. Just as one did not think about why water was wet or why the sky was blue, Adrien did not think about _why_ he could not bake. There were answers to these questions, but usually they did not matter much. The way of life was that Adrien and Félix would not ever successfully bake anything. End of story.

Even if they tried—and they really _did_ try their very best—the universe disapproved. Bad coincidences, also known as a _Cat Sidhe’_ s infamous bad luck, prevented them from doing a successful job. Small things that were enough to disrupt the work: A box of pepper that would have otherwise stayed in its place, fell over into the batter, ruining it; the carton of milk fell over; Félix flinched when the wind shut a door with a loud bang and let go of a whole batch of eggs; and more such unfortunate _coincidences_.

They did call them coincidences, because really, what else could they say? Marinette assured them that it was fine and, worse even, started blaming _herself_ and her clumsiness for the whole mess later on.

Adrien felt immensely guilty. Not only were Félix and he unintentionally ruining the kitchen, but Marinette also felt bad for it.

After another half hour of unsuccessful tries to mix the batter, Adrien declared that he had to go to the bathroom. He then started pacing back and forth in the living room once he was upstairs in the hopes that it would calm him down.

His fault. It was all his fault.

He had seen this disaster from a mile away but had he tried to prevent it? No, he hadn’t! At least Félix had made an active effort to get out of the situation.

What could Adrien have done though? Just stand in the corner and refuse to do anything when asked? No, there was no possible way he could have reasonably explained that. It would have led to questions. Questions he would have not been able to answer.

In the end, it was probably best the way it was with him retreating halfway through, like a coward. He just hoped that Félix would find an equally believable excuse to escape the situation since they certainly should not make things worse for Marinette.

When Adrien heard someone coming up the stairs, he first thought it to be Félix. Only a few seconds later, he realised that those steps could not possibly be his brother’s though. They were too sloppy and loud for be even remotely close to Félix’s silent and graceful strides. They were too heavy to be Marinette’s either, which left only one option.

Adrien hastily adjusted his glamour that had slipped in his miniature emotional breakdown and had revealed his ears and tail. And not a second too late because at the very moment he looked completely human again, Nino appeared in the doorway of the living room.

_That was_ way _too close for comfort!_

Adrien asked himself how he probably looked like to the boy: dishevelled hair from when he had run his hands through it in frustration and nervous energy practically radiating from him.

He could feel his tail moving slowly back and forth under his glamour, invisible to human eyes, as he tried to decipher the situation. Should he feel cornered or was this a welcome opportunity to finally fix the horrible mistakes he had made so far? If Félix was here, he would probably tell him that he had acted like a clingy, jealous cat, which was not a flattering first impression. Adrien was annoyed that he couldn’t deny such an accusation, whether it came from an imaginary Félix or not.

“Hey man, you alright?” Nino asked and looked genuinely concerned. Well, that at least answered Adrien’s question about how he looked like to him right now: pitiful.

“Yeah, just…stalling.”

Why, in Danu’s name, did lying have to be an issue _now!?_ Adrien was not an excellent liar, but he could lie well enough for someone who did not have it in his nature to tell untruths. He had heard that honesty was a good foundation for friendship, but the last thing he needed now were more questions he could not answer!

“You really don’t like baking, huh?”

_Phew, that’s an easy one._

“It’s not like I don’t like it, but I’m horrible at it! You saw what happened down there and Marinette is blaming _herself_ for it and…and…” _It’s my fault._

He couldn’t really say the latter out loud though.

“Yeah, ‘Nette has the habit to blame herself whenever things go wrong.” Nino sighed.

“I don’t want her to feel bad for something that is not her fault at all.”

“Tell her that.”

“What?”

“Tell her exactly that. I’m sure she’ll appreciate it,” Nino said with a shrug. Adrien gave a small grin in return. Could it really be that easy?

He threw the stairs an anxious glance. If he would go downstairs now, there would be no way that he could escape being roped into baking again.

“You don’t have to do it _now_. It’s enough when you tell her later. Just not too much later.”

Nino’s sudden reassurance surprised him. Adrien had acted nothing but ignorant toward him so far, so why was Nino suddenly making an effort to help him?

“I’m sorry.” The words were out before Adrien had even properly thought about them and he bit his lip as soon as he had spoken. Unfortunately, one of his fangs caught on his lip as well and immediately pierced it.

_Ouch._

“What for?” Nino asked but his eyes sparked with something vaguely familiar. Only a few seconds passed until Adrien realised what it was. The look was similar to one Félix would wear when he knew the answer to a question. It was different on Nino, but the core principle stayed the same. That meant he _had_ noticed Adrien’s weird behaviour after all.

_Smelt it._

“For being so…err…rude earlier. I just- I don’t know. It’s stupid.” He would _not_ admit that he was jealous. Only Félix needed to know that.

“Nah dude, I get it,” Nino said and ventured further into the living room until eventually sitting down on the sofa. He patted the spot beside him, clearly an invitation for Adrien to sit down. The blond hesitated only a moment before doing so.

“You do?” He asked, seriously doubting that Nino was familiar with a faerie’s possessive nature.

“Let’s just call it a good guess until I’m sure,” Nino went on with a smile. “You’re friends with Marinette and from what she told me, you spent all summer together. Then suddenly I show up and you feel like you need to take a backseat. Am I right so far?”

Adrien frowned at how accurate that was and nodded.

“It’s a third wheel situation and I’ve been there before. Back in third grade, Marinette became friends with Kim and that naturally lead her to spend less time with me. It was not the end of the world, but I had to get used to the thought that I could not hang out with her _all_ the time anymore. It needed some adjusting on all parts, but it worked. But man, was I jealous back then. I’m not really proud of it, but I guess it’s a normal reaction.”

Adrien blinked. That might not exactly be what he was going through but it was probably as similar as it could get. Nino had not been exaggerating when he had said he understood him.

“That…does sound very familiar,” Adrien admitted with a slight wince.

“Don’t worry about it. We’ve all been there.”

A comfortable silence befell them and it was Adrien who eventually broke it.

“She told me a lot about you, you know?”

Nino snorted. “I’m not surprised. We go way back after all.”

A smile tugged at Adrien’s lips as he thought about his own childhood friends. The smile faded as soon as it appeared though. He could not call them childhood friends anymore, could he? Chloé was potentially dangerous now that Marinette was in the picture and after what happened to Sabrina…

“It’s great that you could be friends for so long,” Adrien heard himself say. “I don’t really have anyone like that. I mean, I _had_ , but…that’s different.”

“Yeah, ‘Nette said that you’re friends with Chloé?”

Nino knew Chloé too? Great. Just when he thought things couldn’t get more complicated.

“I don’t know if you can call that a _friendship._ ” Especially after spending so much time with Marinette, Adrien was almost completely sure that the kind of friendship he has had with Chloé, was not…real. Well, it might be a friendship in faerie terms, but he did not like the Court’s ways of constant retaliations for mischiefs. It was sweet words and backstabbing all around, keeping him on his toes and making him wary of every word he said. He had once accidentally insulted an _Aos Sí_. It had earned him an annoying curse that made him sneeze whenever he was close to feathers, which luckily could be explained away as an allergy.

Chloé was no exception to such tricks. She manipulated those around her to get what she wanted. Adrien would lie when he said that he was not doing something similar when he did not get his way, but Chloé had made it a way of life. He had only realised how sad this way of life was after Sabrina ended up on the short end of it.

_My fault._

He shook his head to rid it of the unpleasant thoughts.

“I don’t think Chloé can _do_ friendship, even if she was held at gunpoint. She’s good at _slavery_ though,” Nino rolled his eyes. Adrien winced again. This was frighteningly close to the truth and it managed to make him feel even more guilty.

“Marinette said you like music?” Adrien asked in a desperate attempt to change the topic. To his endless relief, Nino jumped on it.

“Yeah dude, it’s kinda my thing. Just like fashion is Mari’s thing.”

“So, do you write songs?”

Music was at least a familiar terrain. Adrien knew music. Scratch that, he _lived_ music. Songs and dances were part of his very essence and even though the piano lessons were a mandatory annoyance, he still enjoyed playing whatever he wanted in his free time. That, or listening to songs and dancing to them. Quite often he would drag Félix into it too just for the fun of it.

“Nah, I’m garbage at composing, but I do remixes. I also started to practice DJing. My cousin gave me his equipment for Christmas last year. It’s old but still pretty neat. Do you wanna see?” At the last question, Nino pulled out his phone and opened his gallery before Adrien managed to give an eager nod. He opened a video that showed him behind a mixing table, producing music that was obviously still a work in progress. The camera, suddenly shifted to show the small grinning boy who was filming the whole thing jumping up and down in excitement. Nino snorted at that.

“That’s my little brother. He’s my biggest fan.”

“You have a brother?” Adrien said in awe. He had never met someone else his age who had siblings. Chloé and Sabrina were both only-children and Marinette was too.

“Yeah, that little stinker and a lot of cousins.”

Cousins. Adrien himself did not have aunts or uncles and therefore also no cousins. He only had his parents and his brother. Well, only his father and his brother now. Though, to be honest…

“I…only have Félix,” he admitted with a cringe.

“Dude, this is no competition!”

“I know, it’s just…you all have these big families and a bunch of friends and then there’s me, who doesn’t have any of that. I mean, I already knew I was different, but I think I’m just now realising by how much…”

The thoughts had snuck up on him without warning and he said the words out loud without really meaning to. He did not want to complain about his life. Yes, he was different, but that was a taken. He was half a _faerie_ , for Danu’s sake!

“Adrien.” He could feel his ears perk under the glamour. This was the first time Nino had addressed him by his name.

“I can’t say I know much about your home situation, but I know that at the very least you have Marinette as a friend. I’ll speak of experience when I say that once you have her as a friend, you won’t get rid of her so easily anymore. She’s there to stay. And you have me too now.”

Adrien gasped.

“Really?”

Has he actually managed to befriend Nino? Just like that?

“Sure! We can hang out too and have some bro time, you know?”

“You…really want to be my friend? Why?” He could not help the doubt. On the one hand there were all his crazy fans who wanted to be friends with him because of his social status. On the other hand, he could have accidentally charmed Nino to like him. As much as Adrien wanted to prevent it, things like that just happened sometimes when he was too emotional and did not pay attention. An easy way to figure out if either of those were the case was to ask for reasons behind the sudden bursts of affection.

“Well, Monsieur I-climb-out-of-windows-in-a-cat-jumpsuit—”

“Marinette told you about that?!” That had been on a day close to Lughnasadh when he had struggled with his glamour and wanted to make sure that no one would notice if he accidentally messed up. Marinette had very much questioned it, but had then just taken it in stride. He had not told her explicitly not to tell anyone, but he had still hoped she would have kept it to herself.

Nino snorted. “Obviously. Point is, I think you’re a cool dude. You also earned Nette’s seal of approval even though she started with hating your guts. Not everyone can manage that.”

Adrien gave a small smile, thinking about how far Marinette and him had come ever since that meeting at the Jardins du Trocadéro. Had it really been three months since then already? Wow. It both felt like it happened yesterday and years ago.

“Nino?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you like anime?”

“Who do you think got Marinette into it?” Nino laughed and Adrien grinned.

“Then listen to this. Félix doesn’t appreciate it.”

Adrien then proceeded to show Nino a video of him playing various anime soundtracks on his grand piano. He had shown it to Marinette too, who had been absolutely in awe. Nino was too, but he seemed much more interested in the practical side of things than Marinette had been.

“Dude, do you have magic hands or something? How can you even reach those keys at the same time?!”

_Finally._ He finally had someone who appreciated his effort for creating the perfect music.

The two of them proceeded to show each other various videos of either themselves performing music or searching some up on the internet of others doing so. Adrien meanwhile got the nagging feeling that he had forgotten something. It took only half an hour until he finally remembered what that something was.

“Oh shit!” He suddenly exclaimed halfway through a video and jumped up. “We left Marinette alone in the kitchen with _Félix!_ ”

“Is that…bad?” Nino asked and stood up as well.

“Let’s hope not.”

 

 

Nothing could have prepared Adrien for the surreality of the situation that awaited him downstairs.

Félix, who was adamantly _not_ lifting a finger to help Marinette, stood in the corner of the kitchen with his arms crossed. Meanwhile, Marinette was working with the finished dough, rolling it out while several baking trays with still unbaked cookies sat beside her.

“—because obviously neither of us could _fly_ ,” Félix said with an eye roll just when Adrien and Nino entered the kitchen. “But since the pants Adrien wore were a size too big, the jumping caused them to—”

“Félix, don’t tell her that!” Adrien quickly interrupted, his face blushing crimson. Apparently, his brother and Marinette had not fought, like he previously had suspected, but had rather settled for telling each other stories. Or to be more precise, Félix had opted to tell embarrassing stories about Adrien, when the latest one was anything to go by.

“—slide down,” Félix finished as if he had not heard his brother. By the quick mischievous grin he sent him, he had _very clearly_ heard though.

_Just wait until we’re home Félix. You’ll pay for that._

Marinette laughed and Adrien had the sudden urge to run upstairs again and hide.

“Please tell me that is the only embarrassing story he told you,” Adrien whimpered pathetically.

“Well, I did _not_ tell her about the flower incident if that’s what you’re asking.”

“ _Félix!_ ”

“What flower incident?” Marinette asked with a snicker.

“ _Marinette_ ,” he pleaded, “Please let me keep some dignity.”

“You lost all dignity when you bought a shop empty of all its cat-themed wares.”

Adrien pouted.

“Nino, we’re going back upstairs.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you know, the _flower incident_ Adrien is so embarrassed about involved catnip! ;D
> 
> * * *
> 
> Next chapter is coming out on Sunday. I kinda wanna promise that, but to be honest, I have a very stressful week ahead of me and I don't know how much time I'll have for writing. We'll see.


	15. Witch Glasses and Rose Tea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Autumn arrived ~~kinda~~ and Marinette remembers a certain shop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm alive!  
> Yeah yeah, I know I said I tried to update two times a week but I got a very bad writer's block, so those Christmas chapters are not going to happen (on time) after all. :'c
> 
> BUT, I managed to finish this chapter before the writer's block hit and held on to it in case I wouldn't have anything else to upload on the 21st, which sadly held true. But you know what day is today? It's Midwinter! And since I fittingly uploaded the first chapter of this fanfiction on Midsummer, it's now been exactly half a year since then! 🎉  
> I really would have loved to upload the Midwinter chapter today, but sometimes things just don't work out as you plan them to. I'm sure you guys will appreciate it even when it's not uploaded today though, so look forward to it! I'll try my best to finish the next few chapters before uni starts again but I can't promise anything.  
> What I promise though is another chapter before the year ends, so I won't wish you a happy new year just yet! ;D
> 
> In any case, I wish you guys a wonderful Christmas! 🎄🌟 ~~even if you don't celebrate it~~  
> 

The transition from summer to autumn was a gradual one as always, with the leaves slowly turning into various shades of yellow, orange and red and with the shops one by one offering more products accommodating the colder season. For Marinette, though, it was as if a traffic light had changed from red to green. One day she was glowering over her sketches—even going as far as waking up early to see the sunrise to get even a speck of inspiration—and the next she was a fountain of ideas. That day of productivity was, of course, September 1st, the generally understood beginning of autumn for artists. Well, at least to all the artists she knew personally, which were fairly few.

Unfortunately, it was also the last day of the summer holidays, with rentrée being the very next day. Fall break wouldn’t be for another month and a half and judging from her experiences of the past years, the teachers would surely cram the time before that full with tests, which would leave her with precious little time to work on her designs. Therefore, with the autumn vibe hitting right before time would be taken from her, she gave it all she had, designing no less than seven outfits before eventually having to call it quits.

It was late afternoon, almost evening, when there was a knock on the door. Marinette had been in the middle of an experiment involving three mugs of hot chocolate and various spices when an unannounced, yet not fully unexpected guest entered the apartment.

“Good afternoon,” Félix mumbled, a plate with a slice of his favourite coffee cake in one hand while he closed the door behind him with the other.

“Hello Félix. Too busy downstairs?” Marinette asked with a knowing smile.

While she considered herself to be good friends with Adrien at this point, she did not seem to be quite there yet with Félix. His presence was a frequent one, but he mostly seemed like an observer rather than a partaker.  It was like he was Adrien’s protector of sorts, looking out for him at all times. His silence-loving ways were a stark contrast to his twin’s boundless energy and enthusiasm, which made for a good balance.

The wish for some peace and quiet was what had surely driven Félix upstairs, no doubt after her parents had heavily suggested it to him.

“You could say that. But it was to be expected, since this is the first day you’re opening after a month of being closed.”

“And yet you have not been deprived of cake while we were closed. Quite lucky, aren’t you?”

Félix sat down at the kitchen counter and shrugged.

“I suppose,” he just said and pulled out a book from his bag. Marinette used the opportunity to return to the hot chocolate on the counter behind her, adding cinnamon to one mug, salt to another and then both into the third.

“What are you making there?” Félix asked.

“Hot chocolate. I want to try how it tastes with different things added. Do you want to try one? I was about to drink all three on my own, but it might be more fun to taste-test them together,” Marinette replied and immediately placed the hot chocolate with the salt in front of Félix. He, in return, eyed it sceptically.

“It goes well with the coffee cake, don’t worry,” she added, in case that had been his primary concern. One never quite knew with Félix.

“What did you put in this one?” he asked, still quite sceptical of the beverage in front of him.

“Just a little bit of salt.” She had to snort at his bewildered expression. “I know it sounds weird, but it makes it sweeter, trust me.”

He spent another few seconds looking back and forth between her and the mug, before grimacing and reluctantly taking a sip. His eyebrows rose in surprise.

“You know,” he said after setting the mug down again, “for a moment I thought you were trying to poison me, but this is actually quite good.”

Marinette grinned. “Good! That means I took the right amount after all. I wasn’t quite sure if I made it too salty or not.”

Félix threw her a betrayed look but she cut short any argument by taking a sip of her own mug, the one with cinnamon. She pursed her lips in thought.

“Hmm, it’s good, but it’s missing something.” Walking around the kitchen she looked at the spices in the pantry and then shook her head. Something spicy was tempting for this experiment, but she felt like trying something sweet. Opening a drawer, she pulled out a small bag of vanilla sugar, tore it open and poured a little into the mug with the cinnamon. After stirring it a little she took another sip and her face lit up.

“Much better!” She said with a happy sigh and giving the mug an approving nod.

“What about the third mug?” Félix asked and Marinette noticed that he had emptied almost half of his mug while she had not been looking.

“Cinnamon and salt. Want to try it?” she asked and held the cat-themed mug—a surprise-present from Adrien—out to him. He took it without hesitation this time. Félix took a sip, pondered, then took another before placing the mug down next to his other one on the counter.

“The cinnamon is very strong, but it’s good. I’m not a big fan though,” he said and then turned back to his coffee cake.

“Fair enough. Do you want to finish the hot chocolate or should I make you a coffee?”

“Is both an option?”

“Sure, but don’t expect a Pumpkin Spice Latte. I can improvise much better with pastries than with beverages.”

When she turned around, she caught a rare smile on Félix’s face, even though it was only a small one.

“So, August is for experimental pastries and September is for experimental beverages?”

“Kind of? I’m just in an autumn mood and hot beverages are perfect for the aesthetic.”

“Hot beverages are _always_ perfect,” Félix stubbornly countered.

“Let’s agree to disagree there,” Marinette chuckled while readying the coffee machine. A comfortable silence befell them as they both finished their mugs of hot chocolate with the sound of the coffee machine in the background.

“So, are you looking forward to autumn?” Marinette asked eventually after putting her mug into the dishwasher.

“Well, on the one hand it’s a pretty way for the year to end. On the other hand, everything around us is dying.”

“Now, that’s a morbid way to look at it. Also, there’s still December until the year ends.”

“With our calendar it is, but in the Celtic calendar, the 31st of October is the last day of the year. They celebrate Samhain on the 1st of November as their New Year then. The Celts found it appropriate that the year should end with everything dead, so that the new year would mark the rebirth of the world.”

“That sounds quite familiar actually,” Marinette said thoughtfully, wondering where she could have heard it before.

“Father once based a fall collection on it since mother was quite fond of Celtic things. That was four or five years ago I think. Maybe you heard it there when you were following fashion trends back then already.”

“Yeah, could be. I’ll definitely have to look it up later.”

Another comfortable silence befell them. In contrary to when Félix had first shown up in the bakery back in July, their silences did not hold any kind of tension anymore. He was just the quiet type and even if he judged her, he never did it with mean intent, which put Marinette at ease. To be around someone she could just be quiet with was a nice change.

When she was around her parents or Nino, there always seemed to be something to talk about and when she was with Adrien, he always desperately fidgeted after something to say, as if any sort of silence would offend her. She adored all of them of course, but it was also a little exhausting.

“Autumn is always addressed as comfortable and cosy, but I’ve never really witnessed it like that. The mansion is not the cosiest place in the world and there is only so much a cup of coffee and a good book can do,” Félix said while looking out the window.

Marinette raised her eyebrows. When it came to the twins she had learned by now that things she grew up with, that she considered as natural, were foreign concepts to them. So far, she had always done her best to give them a glimpse into that world of hers and when it came to autumn-cosiness she did not intend to draw a line either.

“You know you can come by whenever you like, right? I’m sure my parents will appreciate having someone to fuss over while I’m at school and you can just sit here in the living room and read a book. Of course I’d have to ask my parents first, but I’m sure they won’t mind. That is, if you prefer my home to yours. I don’t mean to imply that your home is not nice, it’s just–”

“Marinette,” Félix interrupted her and made a stop gesture with one hand. His face was yet again graced with a small smile. “I’d love to come by,” he said, making Marinette breathe a sigh of relief before her face brightened with a grin.

“Great! And you can bring Adrien too when he’s free. I’ll be at school for most of the day, but I always go home for lunch, so we can eat lunch together if you’re here.”

“As tempting as that sounds, we really should ask your parents before making further plans. They will both be busy in the bakery after all and leaving a stranger alone in their apartment is not a very wise idea.”

“You’re not a stranger,” Marinette threw in, a little bewildered.

“Still, it would be much more reasonable for me to come by when someone else is also here to watch me.”

“Okay, fine, then you can come when I have lunch break and afterwards you can ask my parents if it’s okay for you to stay. How does that sound?”

“Most acceptable,” Félix said and devoured the last bite of his piece of cake.

 

“ _What!?_ ”

Félix dropped his fork at the outburst and looked at Marinette as if she had lost her mind. It was Wednesday, one day after school had started and the noirette had looked forward to a relaxing lunch break with Félix after having to put up with Chloé all morning—they were in the same class again.

The previous day, Félix had tried to politely leave just as Marinette had to go back to school, but Sabine had insisted on him staying, which ended with him still sitting on the couch in her living room when she had come back from school that afternoon. By the look Sabine had thrown Félix over lunch, Marinette suspected that she would repeat whatever she had done the previous day to make him stay and feel welcome. She would have chuckled about it, were it not for the latest revelation Félix had so casually dropped as if it did not require any further consideration.

“You mean to tell me,” Marinette started and Félix raised an eyebrow at the threatening undertone of her voice, “that Adrien’s and your birthday is in two weeks and I am just _now_ hearing about it?!”

The blond picked his fork back up and continued eating lunch with a calmness that was beyond Marinette’s understanding.

“As I said, it is _just_ our birthday. We never had anyone except our parents to celebrate it with, so it was always sort of a family thing. Well, there is Chloé, but she always forgets it, so we always got presents about a week or so later. I just never considered it particularly important,” Félix said and stuffed another bite into his mouth. Marinette just stared at him in disbelief and one look at her mother told her that Sabine was already planning how the birthday cake was going to look like.

“Okay, that is _your_ opinion. What about Adrien?” Marinette asked, remembering how excited the other twin could get at the most common of things. If they really never had a birthday party before, then receiving one would probably make Adrien the happiest person in the world. It was of utmost importance to Marinette to see Adrien, and also Félix by extension, happy, so it was natural that she would prepare something for them, even if it would only be something small so their father would not notice.

“He will be over the moon if someone except me will even _remember_ his birthday,” Félix muttered.

“Surely your father will remember it,” Sabine said, appalled by the thought that a parent would forget their own children’s birthday. Félix cringed slightly at that.

“I wouldn’t count on it. He’s very busy lately because fashion week is coming up and he even forgot Mid–” Félix coughed and then took another bite of the Chinese dish on his plate. He didn’t let Marinette or Sabine know what it was he had been about to say.

“So, you’re not having a birthday party?”

“Not as far as I’m aware.”

Marinette thought for a bit, while her mother asked Félix something in Chinese to which his reply was a shrug.

“Alright, don’t worry about your birthday. I’ll handle it,” Marinette eventually said to which Félix gave the faintest of smiles.

 

When Marinette got home on Friday, it was just her parents and her. Adrien and Félix both had a fitting and a photoshoot afterwards from which both of them had texted her throughout the day. Félix was especially annoyed to have been forced into the whole thing, but had told her he did it so that Adrien wouldn’t have to suffer through it alone.

“Hello dear, how was school?” Sabine said as she prepared an order for a customer.

_Urgh, school._

Chloé had been especially cruel to her that day and spilled juice on Marinette’s shirt. By the time she had been able to go home to change it at lunch, the damage had already been irreversible. It was a good thing that she did not wear her own designs to school, or otherwise she might have started crying.

“I survived,” Marinette muttered as she made her way to the stairs.

“Marinette, could you help with a delivery? It’s a last-minute thing and neither of us can leave right now,” her mother called after her just as she had reached the hallway.

Walking around might actually help her to get her mind off what had happened. It also wasn’t like she could just say no when her parents so desperately needed help.

“Sure. I’m just going to bring my bag upstairs real quick.”

One trip to her room and back later, she stood in the bakery’s kitchen and looked at the cake box that stood on one of the tables.

“It’s a birthday cake,” her father explained just as Marinette curiously opened the lid to see what it looked like. The many pink sugar roses, rainbows and a unicorn made out of icing told her all she needed to know about the recipient of the cake. She closed the lid again.

“This is the address.” Her father gave her a note with the address scribbled on it.

“I’m probably going around the city for a bit afterwards, but I’ll be home for dinner,” Marinette said as she pocketed the note and carefully lifted the cake from the table.

“Be careful, sweetie,” her mother called after her.

“Always!”

 _A birthday cake, huh?_ Marinette thought as she walked to the Metro station. It reminded her that there was yet another birthday coming up in a little more than two weeks and that she still didn’t have presents for either of the twins.

It was proving harder than she had thought to find gifts for two boys that already had everything anyone could wish for. Well, except for a reasonable schedule but she could not give them that. Since they could just easily buy whatever they wanted, it seemed easiest for her to just do something herself.

Clothes were out of the question though. They both were _models_ after all and her designs were not nearly good enough for them to wear. Heck, she did not even dare to wear them herself. She had briefly thought about scarves, but what would they do with them? They probably had a closet full of scarves alone. Any articles of clothing were therefore a clear ‘no.’

What else would they like? Adrien really loved outer space and Félix liked…coffee? Neither of those were really things she could work with without spending money.

She threw ideas back and forth in her head while she sat in the Metro and was still doing so while she walked to the address on the note.

Only when she did have trouble to find the front door did she notice how familiar the area was. It was the same address Adrien and she had searched for when they had made a delivery together. It had already been two months since then. Wow.

This had the indisputable advantage that she found the address faster than she otherwise would have. The old lady who had ordered the cake gushed about the pretty design and thanked Marinette profusely. She even gave her one of those bonbons old ladies always seemed to have on them.

On her way back to the Metro station, Marinette thought back on when she had been in this area with Adrien. They had mostly talked when they had been on their way back to the bakery, but on the way to the old lady’s house, there had been something.

She knew she remembered it. At least him dragging her in an alley and motioning for her to be quiet was something that had been burned into her memory. It was the only _shady_ thing she had ever witnessed Adrien doing—climbing out of windows did not count—and in her darker moments of doubt, she had used this one incident as evidence that he should not be trusted after all. That all lay two months back though and, in the meantime, she had gotten to know Adrien good enough to know that he had just looked out for her, no matter how his actions looked from an outside perspective.

What had happened afterwards though? They had not directly found the address. She knew that. There had been something else. Something he had convinced her to walk away from. Just what had it been? Why couldn’t she remember?

She was so deep in thought that she did not pay attention to where she was going and therefore promptly ran into someone.

“I’m sorry,” she immediately cried out and looked up at the woman in front of her in shame.

“It’s fine, child,” the tall blonde said in return and threw Marinette a friendly smile. She had been in the process of unlocking the door of a shop and was just putting away the keys.

Marinette blinked. This shop…it seemed oddly familiar.

_Wait a second._

The shop! It had been a shop Adrien and she had halted in front of but it had been closed.

The sound of a wooden wind chime drew Marinette out of her epiphany and she watched as the woman disappeared into the very shop she and Adrien had stopped in front of two months ago. She quickly put a hand in the door to prevent it from falling shut.

“Excuse me, but are you open?” she asked, which made the woman pause and turn around to her.

“I am not, but if you want to take a look around, you are welcome to do so. I just have to get those upstairs real quick.” She held up two bags with groceries that Marinette was only now noticing.

“I can help you with that if you want,” she suddenly offered out of nowhere. Strange. She usually wasn’t this forward. Then again, helping her with her groceries was the least she could do after she had been allowed to roam the shop even though it was closed at the moment.

“That would be lovely,” the woman replied with twinkling eyes and handed Marinette one of her bags. It was filled with mushrooms, nuts and unusual fruit, from which Marinette only recognized figs and dates.

They went to the back of the shop and up a set of stairs into the apartment above.

“Just put the bag on the counter, I’ll put everything away later,” she said while she sorted vegetables, cheese and meats into the fridge.

Marinette just awkwardly stood there.

What had compelled her to help a stranger with her groceries and follow her into her apartment? That just _screamed_ stranger danger. She was usually smarter than this…

“So, you wanted to have a look around the shop?” The woman was suddenly in front of Marinette, startling her. When had she moved?

_Stop being so distracted!_

“Only when it’s not a bother. You probably want to rather enjoy your free time.”

“Oh, but I _do_ enjoy it. Having guests over is part of that.” She ushered Marinette back down the stairs and into the shop.

“You know, it’s mostly only customers that come by and all of them just want business. Do not count on any of them for a friendly chat over some tea. It’s rather rare that I get to just sit down and talk a little.”

“Oh, uhm, I guess I can do that.”

“Fabulous! I’ll make us some tea and you have a look around. Do you like rose tea?”

“Yeah, rose tea is fine,” Marinette replied but the shopkeeper had already disappeared in the back, apparently making the tea.

When she started looking around, she couldn’t help but gasp. She had remembered the wind chimes from the front window and the many books and trinkets she had seen while rushing past earlier, but now that she could take in everything in detail, she was simply in awe.

It seemed to be…Wiccan? In any case, the shop had all sorts of mystic-looking things available. There was a bunch of rose quartz in one corner, a bundle of herbs Marinette did not recognize in some box without a sign and sticks of all varieties neatly arranged in a basket.

What really caught her attention though were the glass orbs that hung from a giant branch on the ceiling. It must be at least a hundred and each of them was unique in their colouring and design. Some were painted with swirls in different colours or even whole pictures, while others were clear but filled with herbs and sticks. Marinette watched in awe as the light caught in the glass orbs and reflected in all colours of the rainbow on the walls, floor and ceiling.

“Witch glasses.” The voice startled Marinette out of her observation, especially with how near it was. The woman had managed to sneak up on her _again._

“They are pretty, aren’t they?”

Marinette could only nod.

“Most use them as a protection against evil spirits. Back in the early days they were called _watch bottles_ because of that but they were not nearly as pretty as these ones are. They were also hung in churches for a while, but not anymore and might have been the origin of Christmas ornaments. You can hang these in your home all year round though.”

“They protect against evil spirits?” Marinette asked without believing a word of it.

“Yes, they do. Well, at least against anything that is not human and wants to cause harm to any occupant of the room the witch glass hangs in. I recommend to hang one into every room, just to be safe.”

“How…practical.” Marinette shuffled awkwardly, having problems with keeping a straight face.

“Which one do you like best?”

“Oh…uhm…I’m sorry, but I don’t have any money on me right now.”

Marinette fully expected to be thrown out of the shop upon this admission. The woman, though, just laughed.

“Oh, that is completely alright, child. Money is overrated anyway if you ask me. I prefer trades, just like in old times.”

“I don’t have anything to trade either.”

“How about this then: You stay for a cup of tea and a nice little chat and for that I will give you one of the witch glasses.”

“That’s too generous!”

“It really is not. Trust me, I know the values of my wares well.”

Against her better judgement, Marinette heard herself say “alright” and sat down with the woman at a small table in the corner.

“So, I’m curious. What made you want to come into this shop?”

Marinette thought about that for a bit. Why _had_ she wanted to enter it in the first place? Sure, there had been the initial curiosity of what was inside, especially after Adrien had dragged her away from it so quickly last time she’d seen it, but that was not all.

“I…am looking for inspiration for a birthday present. Well, two presents actually. I don’t want to buy anything, but I also don’t know what to make by myself.”

“Oh, so you’re an artist?”

“Not really. I mean, I design in my free time but I’m not very good yet.”

“ _Tsk tsk tsk,_ child. Everyone who creates art is an artist. It doesn’t matter how _good_ they are. That is usually a question of taste and experience anyway.”

“I guess. But I’m still not good enough to design anything for them. They’re…used to high class things.”

The shop owner did not immediately reply but took a sip of her tea instead.

“You do plan on doing something hand-crafted that they don’t own yet, hmm?”

“Yes, that’s the plan. I just don’t know _what_ I could make. I mean, they already have everything.”

“No one has _everything_. There definitely are things they lack and this is exactly what you can give them. Just ponder over it for a bit, it’s often simpler than you think.

“You said they are used to _high class things,_ so I’m going to presume they are well-off and have everything money can buy. Well, whatever you make for them will definitely be something they won’t already have since it will be an original design.”

Marinette frowned. While that was true, it still did not solve her dilemma. She took the cup of tea in front of her and took a sip—tasty. When she placed it down again, she noticed the layer of knitted wool around it. She lifted the tea cup again to inspect it closer. The knitting pattern was a familiar one since she had used it once to make Christmas sweaters. It was all secured snugly around the cup with a big button.

“The cup cozies were something I got out of a trade. Pretty cute, aren’t they?” The woman asked.

“This would be a good gift.” Marinette did not know if Félix needed a cup cozy, but it would definitely be something he could use and that he probably did not have already. It was perfect!

“Well, I’m afraid I can’t give these to you.”

“Oh, that’s not what I meant!” Marinette quickly threw in. “I could make those myself. I just meant a cup cozy as a gift idea in general. I have a friend who likes to drink coffee, or hot beverages in general, so he could probably use one of these.”

“Ah, I see. In that case I can recommend you a nice little place that sells the best wool for very fair prices. It’s just two streets down from here, a shop called ‘well wishes.’ You cannot miss it.”

“I’ll definitely keep it in mind.”

“It’s worth it, trust me. Autumn is around the corner now and there’s nothing more comfortable than sitting in front of a window and watching the rain fall while working on your latest knitting project.”

“Oh, definitely! It’s either knitting, drawing or reading a good book when I don’t have homework to do.”

“Yes, reading is definitely a hobby of mine as well. I must admit that I’m more of a literati than an artist though.”

She laughed and pointed to the bookcases they sat in front of.

“Now tell me about these friends of yours who you need to get presents for. Perhaps we can brainstorm some ideas.”

Marinette bit her lip. She couldn’t tell this stranger that she knew Adrien and Félix _Agreste_ personally. Then again, she didn’t have to. There were many people who were well-off and it would probably not raise too many eyebrows that she was friends with two of them. As long as she did not mention their names or that they were models, absolutely no one would guess that she was associated with the Agreste family.

“Well, uh, one of them is very quiet and he loves to read books and drink coffee. The other is very enthusiastic and easily excited about all sorts of things. He loves sweets, cats, outer space, watching anime and…a lot of things actually.”

It was ridiculous that out of the two of them it was Adrien’s present that caused her trouble. She pulled her lucky charm out of her pocket under the table and looked at it for a bit in hopes that it would give her some sort of inspiration.

Adrien had made this charm for her. In all his excitement of sharing good luck with everyone, he had forgotten to make a charm for himself. This is why, when he had gifted this charm to her, she had given him hers. He always carried it around with him now and pulled it out on any given occasion, gushing about it. She kept hers more secret and often chuckled at the ironic leaf-shaped bead in the middle.

“Hmm, when he likes sweets then a cake could work. Are you good at baking?” The woman’s voice brought her out of her thoughts again and she quickly let the lucky charm disappear back into her pocket.

“Yes, my parents own a bakery. I was actually on my way back from a delivery.”

“Really now? That’s wonderful! Which bakery is it? I really would love to come by sometime.”

“It’s the ‘Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie’ near Place des Vosges.”

“I know that place! You make the best pastries in all of Paris!”

“Thank you!” Marinette beamed with pride. She always loved it when people complimented her parents’ work.

“Oh, this is a very lucky coincidence,” the woman said and clapped into her hands like an excited little girl. For some reason, it did not look as weird as it should have.

“I have an idea! What if I order something twice a week and you deliver it to me? We can then enjoy the pastries together and you can even bring your knitting supplies and get to work on this cup cozy of yours. I could give you some pointers and who knows, maybe you’ll even get an idea for this other present until then. What do you say?”

It _did_ sound tempting.

“That sounds great, but I have school all week and I don’t know how free I’ll be on the weekends.”

It would be unforgivable if she’d neglect her school work just to go halfway across Paris and drink tea with a stranger while knitting birthday presents for the twins.

“Then we’ll do it like this: I’ll order something every day and if you can’t deliver it, you can just give it to those friends of yours or your classmates instead. Deal?”

“But then you’d have to pay even for the pastries that don’t get delivered to you.”

“Why don’t you let me worry about that?” The woman replied with an amused grin and took another sip of her tea.

“Oh dear, I just remembered that I have not even introduced myself yet, have I? How rude of me,” she purred and then eagerly shook Marinette’s hand.

“You can call me Mel.” She sent a broad grin.

“Marinette,” she replied without a beat and returned a polite smile.

Mel’s grin creeped wider.

“That is a very pretty name, my child.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot how much fun it is to write cliffhangers. I'm a comic artist who is known for her cliffhangers, so why the hell did I not transfer this to this fanfiction yet? Probably because it was mainly fluff so far :p  
> I promise more cliffhangers in the future as far as I can arrange them! :D


	16. A Birthday Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's finally Adrien's and Félix's birthday!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took MUCH LONGER than I would have liked!   
> I hope all of you had a great Christmas and will transition smoothly into the new year tomorrow! ;D   
> This is definitely the last chapter of this year, but since it's a party it's still quite fitting.  
> My original plan was to already be at the New Year's chapter right now, but life did not let me. :'c We will get there eventually!
> 
> Happy New Year everyone!

“They look so uncomfortable!” Adrien snorted at the photos in Marinette’s English textbook. “I don’t think any of them are models. That smile is creepy and he isn’t even looking at the camera!”

“Adrien, stop browsing my textbook to nitpick on photos while I still have to do homework with it.”

Adrien looked up from the photo story he had regarded critically and tilted his head at a clearly not amused Marinette. The two of them were sitting at her desk with Nino and Félix also present elsewhere in the room.

“But the task is so simple! You just have to translate the sentences and fill in the blanks!”

“I still need the page the task is on for that.”

Well…that was true.

“It’s taking you _so long_ though.”

“Maybe it wouldn’t take me as long if you would stop flipping to other pages while I work on it.”

“Adrien, if you’re not going to help her then leave her alone. In contrary to us she actually gets in trouble for not doing her homework,” Félix interjected.

“We’re getting in trouble too!” Adrien argued while flipping back to the correct page in the textbook.

“Deprivation of dessert is not noteworthy as a punishment.”

“It is too!”

“You’re getting no dessert for not doing your homework, seriously?” Nino snickered. He was laying on the floor of Marinette’s room to do his homework, because Adrien had stubbornly claimed the second chair to sit next to Marinette and help her. Félix, who had been at the Dupain-Cheng’s house the entire morning already, had opted for the chaise lounge instead.

“Yes, life is hard for us.” Adrien sighed dramatically and slumped back in the chair. From the corner of his eye, he could see Marinette rolling her eyes and shaking her head in what he recognized as amusement.

Nino, who did not seem to be as serious about finishing his homework as fast as possible as Marinette was, gave a low chuckle at that.

“Dudes, you’re fourteen! You should be able to decide for yourselves if you have dessert or not.”

“We’re thirteen,” Félix replied without looking up from the book he was reading.

“ _Almost_ fourteen!” Adrien threw in immediately. Both Marinette and Nino were fourteen already and it was a little embarrassing to be younger, even by a few months.

“Just three more days,” Nino waved off. “You’re already fourteen in my eyes if that makes you feel better.”

Adrien beamed.

“They’re not officially fourteen before Sunday.”

“ _Marinette_ ,” he whined.

“I stand by my word. Now be quiet! I really want to finish this, so you or Nino can help me with my physics homework afterwards.”

Adrien managed to be quiet for about three minutes, but since he was the only one in the room with nothing to do, he quickly grew bored. He started playing with one of Marinette’s pencils, letting it roll from one of his hands to the other and then trying to balance it on his nose. He then took another pencil and put it on his nose too. That continued until he was balancing a total of five pencils. The whole construction fell apart when he tried to add a sixth. Marinette sighed.

“What were you even trying to do?”

“Sorry, I’m just bored,” Adrien admitted sheepishly. He had never been good at sitting still when he had nothing to do. With modelling he had instructions to follow, to keep him occupied, but in situations like his current predicament he easily grew skittish. His cat side told him to just lay down somewhere comfortable and to take a nap, but he did not dare to. It would be a disaster if his glamour would slip while he was inattentive.

“You can go and water the flowers on my balcony if you want to. Please don’t drown the roses again though.”

“That was _one_ time!”

“Which was one time too much.” She would never let that go apparently.

“I solemnly swear that I will not drown any of your plants,” Adrien said with a small grin.

A distraction was a distraction, so he got up, filled the watering can at the tap and climbed up the loft and beyond to the balcony. This was not the first time he did this by far, which was probably why Marinette allowed it at all. Her flowers were sacred to her and being allowed to handle them meant a certain amount of trust. He had gained said trust only after weeks upon weeks of watching her water her precious plants and being explicitly taught how to do it after eventually asking if he could try it too.  

What Marinette did not know was _why_ he had a particular liking to some of her plants. If things went as smoothly as they did so far, then she would never find it out.

Adrien gave the roses a sniff and sighed blissfully. For plants that grew in the polluted air of Paris, they still managed to smell as sweet as roses should. Adrien was especially fond of them since they grounded him. Samhain might be more than a month away, but the pull of _Faerie_ was a constant companion even outside of one of the critical days. It just was that much worse on them. To feel more _real_ was the best feeling in the world to him, even though Marinette’s and also Nino’s company contributed to that much more than any plants ever could.

His eyes then fell on the pink primroses Marinette had introduced to him as a _new_ addition to her balcony garden. She had bought them in spring and was very proud that they had survived throughout the summer heat. Adrien was glad about it too. Letting primroses under your care die was an offence to the fair folk. Seeing how some took every possible opportunity to bring misfortune to humans, such a small thing could have devastating consequences. He always kept an eye on the flowers just in case.

Adrien was about to head back down into the room, but the silence indicated that Marinette and Nino were still busy with their respective homework. Changing his mind, he let himself fall on the lounge chair and enjoyed the sunny weather instead.

His fae side protested about him being too close to Marinette’s rosemary plant, but he could just grin. It was a gift he had given her himself for seemingly no particular reason. There _was_ a reason of course: The plant allowed him to worry a little less about his friend. After all, rosemary prevented the fair folk from stealing away humans in their sleep. It was one of the few faerie-repelling plants Adrien could be around without much worry, as long as he did not eat it. Stealing Marinette away at night while she was sleeping was the last thing he planned to do after all. The thought alone seemed downright creepy.

As he lay on the lounge chair and watched the clouds slowly move in the sky, he thought about the previous few weeks in which things had changed. School had started again, so it was natural for their days to change and for them to see each other less often. Adrien had known that it would happen…but it still had happened too soon.

If he counted Midsummer, then he knew Marinette for almost three months already. That did not seem like a long time but it felt like an eternity. He could barely remember how his life had been like without her being just a phone call or a quick trip down the block away. It felt like a miracle to have met her, which was ironic since _Cat Sidhe_ like him should be unlucky.

Still, things were different now. He could not call her while she was in school and even if he texted her, she could only reply every so often. Adrien had also started to text Nino, which worked better since he sat in the back row of the class…which apparently made a difference somehow? He still was not in the same class as Marinette, so he could not tell him how she was doing.

Lunch breaks were a ray of hope on school days because it meant that Marinette and Nino were out of school and he could meet them at her house. At the times he could not do that, he usually called or texted them from whichever photoshoot, fitting or even class he was stuck at for that moment. It was not as much as before but it was _something_.

But then there were the times where Marinette _should_ be free but wasn’t. When she had homework like at this moment or when she was on a necessary delivery. He understood how both of these things were important, but his selfish side still wanted to have her all to himself. He wanted to go outside and have adventures like they had done in summer, but that was barely possible anymore.

Félix kept telling him to stop worrying about it and get used to this new situation. He was right of course, but that did not mean that Adrien liked that things changed. After all, change was usually some sort of catastrophe for him.

Sabrina getting enslaved, his mother disappearing, his father growing downright hostile towards faeries and to Félix and him by extension. No, change certainly wasn’t a good thing for Adrien, so it was no wonder he was nervous about this one. The one good change that had happened in the last few years had been to meet Marinette. He couldn’t lose her too…

 

 

Adrien scowled at the physics task in front of him. Helping Marinette with her homework the previous day had been easy and even fun to do, but his physics tutor delivered the lesson in such monotony and with so much special attention to fine details in writing laboratory reports that everything was just plain boring to him. And physics was his favourite subject, so this said something!

Félix looked equally bored, though Adrien doubted that the physics tutor noticed it at all. He was only there to be paid and whatever work the twins did not manage to do would be on them and not him. It was an unfair system but one Adrien could not change anything about.

His father and Nathalie had left the house for the day, preparing things for the upcoming fashion week. To make sure that Adrien and Félix would not leave the house, their entire day had been packed to the brim with classes. The temptation to fake going to the bathroom and escaping instead was huge, but Adrien knew the punishment for such an action well. He did _not_ want to ever wear that smelted bell collar again if he could help it. So, sitting through all of their classes and studying it was.

Marinette’s text that they couldn’t meet up the next day since she was doing something with Nino which she did not want to tell him about, did not help either. If anything, it made his mood even worse. Félix was smart enough not to say anything about it.

When Adrien let himself fall in bed that evening, he was ready for death. He texted with Marinette until she had to go to bed, which was at least a small comfort.

The next day did not go much better. They did not have as many classes, but they were still told to stay in the house. Adrien felt like a prisoner. He caught himself pacing the room more than once which Félix always commented with an impatient sigh. And even though they did not have school, Marinette and Nino texted very rarely, which they explained by saying they were working in the bakery.

Well, at least that explained why Félix and he had not been invited to join them. The last time they had tried to _help_ with baking was more than enough to prove that their presence was more a hindrance than a help.

With the knowledge that the next day would be their first birthday without their mother, Adrien eventually lay down in bed and fell asleep.

 

 

He was awoken by a strange feeling. It felt like a fae had entered the house but that was impossible, unless…

_Mother!_

Adrien jumped out of bed and accidentally dragged Félix out of it with him. His brother hissed at him in turn but he did not care. In his pyjamas he ran through the halls towards the entrance where he felt the feeling from. He stopped when he heard two voices arguing in the front hall. Neither of them was his mother though.

_Why did I get my hopes up in the first place? I know she won’t come back…_

He was about to go back to his room, dejected, but his curiosity eventually got the better of him. After all, he recognized _both_ voices.

“You’re not welcome here!” He heard his father bark and Adrien cringed. It was unwise to be rude to the fair folk.

“Neither are the kittens apparently, which is precisely why I am here.”

Adrien peeked around the corner to see what he had already suspected. Mélusine stood in the middle of the foyer and looked up to his father who stood at the top of the stairs, unmoving like a statue with a frown on his face. She seemed way more relaxed than was appropriate for the occasion.

 “And what makes you think I will allow someone like _you_ to see them?”

“Emilie,” Mélusine simply said. At the sharp intake of breath, Adrien could see that she had hit a nerve. Félix came up silently behind him to watch the spectacle too. He seemed oddly amused by it.

“What about my wife?”

“She told me that if anything happened to the twins, then I should take care of them if she was unable to.”

“No harm has come to them. They are safe in this house.”

Adrien and Félix both shrunk back as Mélusine’s relaxed expression changed to something horrifying. They had never seen her angry before and now they knew that they would never want to get on her bad side. Ever.

“This is a cruel joke, even for a human. Bells and iron? Let alone forbidding them to shift and _letting Adrien out on Midsummer!_ ”

“I do not see how that counts as—”

“Don’t you _dare_ deny it! Then again, you seem to be even more harebrained than you have every right to be, making me lose my temper like this. Invoking the ire of an old fae such as myself will not work out in your favour, I can guarantee you that.”

It was then that Mélusine straightened her posture and changed her furious snarl to a pleasant smile. Both twins jumped when she turned her attention to them.

“Good morning kittens!” She then proceeded to rush up the stairs with a speed and elegance that no human would ever master but that still fell short of that of a true fair one. The next thing the twins knew, they were enveloped in a tight hug.

“Happy birthday you two!”

Adrien couldn’t help but grin. “You remembered!”

“Are you implying that I would forget something important like this?” She sounded offended, but still wore a grin.

“What was that about taking us away?” Félix meanwhile asked, which made Mélusine end the hug and roll her eyes.

“I’m not taking you away, don’t worry. Even though your father seems to think that I’ll do. I sadly have to go soon since there’s someone in Prague I need to meet. But I still made time to see you.”

“It’s so nice that you thought of us!” Adrien hugged her again.

“Of course, kitten.”

An unamused snort from Félix drew Adrien out of his bliss again. He followed the direction his brother was looking in and saw that the top of the stairs was empty. His father had disappeared in the short time Mélusine had rushed up the stairs and hugged them.

_He has not even wished us a happy birthday…_

“Now come along, I don’t want your grump of a father to see what I give you so he can’t take it away,” Mélusine said and without further ado took each twin by the hand and pulled them back to their room.

How did she know which one was theirs? As far as Adrien knew, she had never been in their house. To see her in it was actually rather strange. The cold marble floors and white walls did not fit to her at all. He had only ever seen her surrounded by faerie trinkets or outside in nature. Her being out in daylight Paris and in their house of all places seemed as odd as the sun shining at midnight.

“You brought us gifts?” Félix asked as they closed the door behind them. He seemed excited about the prospect. Not without reason, since the gifts they had gotten so far had only ever been human gifts. While they had liked them—new video games and books—they still had only ever satisfied one half of them.

“Of course! Now, your mother did not want that you dabble in magic too much on your own, but you’re fourteen now and that’s old enough in my opinion. Besides, how are you going to fend for yourselves without practice?”

Adrien grew more excited too. Would they finally learn real magic? Sure, they had stolen some of their mother’s books after she disappeared but the spells in them were mostly quite advanced and therefore too dangerous to try. Others were just guides for herbs or other things that helped with magic or that hurt fae.

Mélusine then ceremoniously handed them a tome that…did not really deserve the name. It looked more like a regular book and it was new too. Adrien tilted his head in confusion.

“I wrote it myself! In it are some spells that will probably help you and some lessons of when _not_ to use magic. Most spell books are made for fae, but there’s barely anything for halflings. I’ve lived long enough to have learned some tricks though, so this will come in handy.” She gave it to Félix with a wink, who immediately started flipping through the handwritten pages. Adrien looked at it over his shoulder, seeing headings like “Enchantments”, “How to _not_ charm a human” or “How to stay safe on the important days” and sometimes even hand-drawn pictures of herbs or trinkets.

“That’s amazing,” Félix said in awe and visibly restrained himself from saying ‘thank you’. Thanking a fair one for a gift was bad manners after all.

“And that’s not all,” Mélusine said as she took a small box out of her pocket. She set it on the floor and then mumbled something in Irish. Adrien only picked up ‘grow’ and ‘real’—he really needed to practice his Irish again. It obviously was a spell because the box started growing until it was half as big as the twins. It was not wrapped, but Adrien did not mind. Instead he started jumping up and down excitedly.

“Oh my god!” He exclaimed after confirming that it really was what he thought it was.

“I thought your father wouldn’t allow you to get one, so _I_ got you one instead.”

Even Félix wore a grin as he regarded the box which contained what was probably the greatest cat adventure playground of all time.

“It gets installed partly on the ceiling,” Mélusine said and looked up. “Which might be a little hard here, but we’ll surely be able to think of something. I can stay a little and help you set it up.”

“Yes, please! I always wanted something like this!” Adrien said and was sure that he would have cried tears of joy if he could— _Cat Sidhe_ were not able to cry though.

They spent the following two hours wrestling with the instructions and how to set it up. Mélusine’s experience with building all sorts of stuff saved them from almost destroying it altogether. In the end it was set up in the corner on their second level at the windows, so that they could lounge on it and look outside. Of all of the parts, the ceiling paths were unsurprisingly the hardest to install, but they eventually managed it. Was it cheating to use some magic?

When Mélusine had to leave, Adrien almost begged her to take him with her. It was only nine in the morning and the day was far from over. Sure, Félix and he could enjoy the new construction in their room and the amazing box it had come in, but that would only keep them entertained for _so_ long. Only the thought that they could escape later to go to Marinette’s kept him from following Mélusine outside.

After she left, the suffocating silence of the mansion returned and Adrien could not help letting out a sigh. For the hundred thousandth time since Midsummer, did he ask himself why his house couldn’t feel warm and homely.

“Do you think mother would have gifted us something like this too?”

“Maybe,” Félix just replied with a shrug. One look at him was enough to tell that he wanted to get away too.

They then wordlessly returned to their room. While Félix climbed their new cat playground, Adrien settled down in the box—he fit in perfectly! He started texting Marinette, who, to his surprise, was awake already and texted him back an excited ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!’ with a lot of party and cake emojis. A smile tugged at his lips. Mélusine was not the only one to remember their birthday.

The box toppled over and Adrien scrambled out of it and in the direction of their walk-in closet one minute later.

“Fé!” Adrien yelled excitedly, startling his brother in the process and almost making him fall off the top level of the cat playground.

“Marinette invited us over!”

“Finally. I was asking myself when she’d say something,” his brother just said. Though he did not seem surprised, he could clearly see that he was happy about the invitation anyway.

“You _knew_!?” Adrien peeked out of their walk-in closet to look at his brother in disbelief.

“I highly suspected. We’re not all as oblivious as you are.”

“I’m not oblivious.”

That drew a snicker out of Félix. _Rude!_

 

 

After Félix fixed the apparent fashion nightmare that Adrien had deemed suitable as his ‘birthday outfit’ and getting dressed himself, the two of them snuck out of their bathroom window and climbed over the mansion wall. They knew better than to even _try_ to go through the front door, much less be _permitted_ to do so.

“She remembered our birthday!” Adrien said for what must be the hundredth time by the way Félix rolled his eyes at it.

“Are you really surprised?” His brother asked as they walked around the corner into Rue Gotlib.

“No, but it’s amazing anyways! Mélusine came to give us presents and now Marinette remembered and even invited us over! This is the best birthday ever!”

“Don’t you dare jinx it!”

“Hey dudes!” They heard from behind them and Adrien whirled around to grin at Nino. “Happy birthday!” He said as he caught up to them and wrapped both twins in a friendly hug. Adrien noticed how his brother only mildly protested this time around.

“Thank you, Nino!” It felt good to finally be able to thank someone without breaking etiquette. “What are you doing here?”

“Nette called me and said I should come over. The more the merrier, right?” Nino said with a grin.

“Right!” Adrien enthusiastically agreed and suddenly had to concentrate very hard to keep his glamour in place.

“Did she plan this?” He asked, hoping Félix was wrong and he was not as oblivious as his brother claimed after all. Nino snorted.

“Obviously.”

Oh. He _was_ absolutely oblivious after all.

“Let’s go! She’s probably walking a hole into the floor while waiting.” Nino then continued and proceeded to push both twins into the direction of the bakery.

When the three of them arrived there, they saw a sign at the door that declared it to be closed for the entire day. Therefore, they went around the building and over to the actual door that led to the apartment above.

They had barely rung the doorbell as the door already flew open, revealing a very excited-looking Marinette.

“Happy Birthday you two!” She squealed as she jumped forward to hug both Adrien and Félix, showing much less restraint than Nino had and squeezing them tightly—she was much stronger than she looked!

Adrien recovered from Marinette’s surprise attack as she pulled him and Félix up the stairs, smiling all the way.

“What did you do?” Félix asked meanwhile out of caution. He was not fond of surprises, but since he apparently had known about it for a while, it could not come as much of a surprise to him anyway.

“You’ll see,” Marinette just replied with a mysterious grin. This made Adrien even more excited. Did she prepare a birthday party?! If so, it would be his first one!

As they climbed the final set of stairs, Adrien started wiggling excitedly. He knew he shouldn’t get too hyped about what was or wasn’t behind the door. How often had he gotten his hopes up before, only to let them be crushed? He didn’t want to experience this on his birthday. Then again, he couldn’t believe that Marinette had it in her to be cruel enough to set him up for a joke. That kind of thing just _didn’t happen_ with her.

His thoughts were interrupted when the door opened and he was wished a happy birthday for the fourth time that day—that must be a record! This time it was Tom and Sabine, who seemed equally as enthusiastic about the whole thing as Marinette was. It was clear where she got it from.

When Adrien managed to look past her parents, he couldn’t help but gasp. The whole living room had been decorated with streamers and balloons. Even a garland that spelt out ‘ _joyeux anniversaire’_ hung from the ceiling directly above the kitchen where two cakes with yet unlit candles on them stood.

Adrien squealed and excitedly jumped up and down. He didn’t care that he looked like a little kid at that moment since this was clearly a birthday party. A birthday party thrown for Félix and him. Their _very first_ real birthday party! He looked at his brother to catch his reaction, which was different but not the least bit less happy. Félix held a hand to his mouth to hide his grin but his eyes said it all.

“Thank you!” Adrien said and proceeded to hug Tom and Sabine, who both hugged him back as if he was their own child.

“It was Marinette’s idea,” Sabine said, which made Adrien break the hug and whirl around to his certainly _best_ friend again. Of course it was her idea! Brilliant, sweet, caring Marinette. Who else could it have been?!

She squeaked as Adrien picked her up in a hug and whirled her around in a circle while laughing. It was freeing.

“Thank you!” He repeated, this time to Marinette. She let out a laugh too.

“It’s nothing.”

“No, it’s _everything_!” Adrien said as he set her down again. “Seriously, _thank you_ Marinette.”

“You’re welcome,” she said and gave him one of those genuine smiles of hers. The kind that photographers always strived to catch but only did with a stroke of luck.  

Marinette then herded all of them to the kitchen table where three extra chairs had been placed. It was a little cramped, with Marinette, Adrien and Félix sitting on the window-side, Sabine and Nino sitting on the kitchen-side and Tom sitting at the head of the table. It still was a hundred times more comfortable than their own huge dining table at home. Being so close to people was nice.

Things just kept getting better as Adrien recognized the cake in front of him as one of his favourite cakes from the experimental phase in August. A monster of a cake, made out of marzipan, chocolate and fluffy vanilla-hazelnut goodness! While it was impossible to pick _one_ favourite cake, this one was clearly among his top three.

Félix, too, had gotten an experimental cake he had been fond of. In his case that was a buttercream, chocolate coffee cake. Both cakes looked almost too good to be eaten with the detailed flowers and artful writing on the tops that said ‘Happy 14th Birthday Adrien’ and ‘Happy 14th Birthday Félix’ respectively. Adrien identified said handwriting to be Marinette’s.

After Tom and Sabine lit the candles, everyone started to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ which made Adrien beam and Félix blush, flustered. Their mother had always sung them a ‘Happy Birthday’ song, but it being sung by more than just one person added something ceremonial to the whole thing. Adrien loved it!

When it came to blowing out the candles afterwards, both twins did so simultaneously. As for the wish, only one thing really came to mind.

 

_Please don’t take Marinette away from me too._

 

Everyone took a slice of the birthday cake they liked best while of course Adrien and Félix both got the first slices of their respective cakes. Meanwhile, Sabine hopped around the table and took pictures with her phone which Marinette promised to send to them later.

When everyone started to eat, Adrien pretty much melted as he took the first bite. The cake was even better than he remembered it being.

“This is _so good,_ ” he said in between bites.

“I’m glad to hear it,” Tom said with a grin. “Do you think I could offer them as a monthly special then?”

“Definitely!”

The conversation continued like that, talking about the cakes at first and then branching off to all sorts of topics. At one point, Adrien asked Sabine to show him the photos she had taken. He found out, much to his amusement and Marinette’s mortification, that Sabine had started taking photos even before Félix and he had arrived, which meant she had caught Marinette while she was pacing in the living room and then mid-run down the stairs. Marinette meekly commented that she got a text from Nino at that point telling her they were almost there and that she got a little too excited. Sabine had even managed to take a picture of when he had picked Marinette up and spun her around. He absolutely needed a copy of that one!

At one point they had moved from the kitchen table to the more spacious and much more comfortable sofa. Adrien was in the middle of a debate with Tom about which Mega Strike II character was the best one to play as when he picked up on a weird mixture of nervousness and anticipation.

He glanced behind himself to see what that was about only to see Marinette looking at him with her hands behind her back and a small smile. His natural curiosity screamed at him to look what she was hiding, but he restrained himself from doing so. A questioning look to Nino showed him in much the same position, which made Adrien fully turn around, his previous conversation forgotten. Félix seemed equally curious even though he was not nearly as obvious about it.

Nino flashed both of them both a smile. “Happy birthday again dudes!” He said and produced two wrapped gifts from behind his back. Marinette did the same but still held that nervous, yet warm, smile.

Adrien couldn’t help himself, he hugged both of his friends again.

“Thank you!”

He would probably never get tired of saying that or of having occasions to say it.

He couldn’t say it to his father since lately there had really been nothing he could thank him for and the times he thanked Nathalie or the chef for simple things like giving him his schedule or bringing him his food did not really count. They were pleasantries and not much more. The fair folk was out of the question anyway when it came to verbally expressing gratitude.

“You really didn’t have to,” Félix said, polite as always.

“Hey, it’s your birthday. Of course you’re getting presents,” Marinette said with a laugh. “Open Nino’s ones first.”

All four presents were wrapped in the same kind of wrapping paper—a pink-grey-silver striped one—only varying in sizes. Nino gave him the smaller one of the two presents he held and the other one to Félix. Adrien was confused by the size of his present at first since it was about the size of his thumb. What could Nino gift him that was this tiny?

The answer was a USB stick, which still did not help Adrien much.

“It’s a song mix from a few more unknown bands you’ll probably like,” Nino explained, which gave the, at first sight, unimpressive gift a whole new meaning. A grin quickly grew on Adrien’s face.

“I can’t wait to listen to it! Thank you so much!”

“More horrendous K-Pop. Wonderful,” Félix deadpanned with an accusing look to Marinette—she had been the one to introduce Adrien to K-Pop. She in turn just threw Félix a mischievous grin and shrugged before silently ushering him to open his gift from Nino as well. Said gift turned out to be a mug with the text ‘There’s always time for coffee’ on it. Adrien snickered.

“That’s you in one sentence, Fé.”

“Hilarious.” Félix rolled his eyes but there was a smile tugging at his lips. “Thank you, Nino,” he said appreciatively.

“You’re welcome, dudes. Now open Nette’s gifts!”

Adrien guessed that Nino knew what Marinette’s gifts were but he still seemed to be as excited as Adrien himself was.

As Marinette both handed them their gifts with a shy smile, Adrien’s first impression was ‘soft.’ A piece of clothing maybe? Knowing Marinette, that was very possible. If so, it seemed to be something small. A hat or a scarf maybe? Fitting for the coming winter.

Adrien was fully unprepared for what he saw when he carefully ripped the wrapping paper open and extracted from it a small crocheted black cat, about the size of a real-life kitten. He carefully inspected it from every angle, everything on it clearly hand-made with an attention to detail that was astonishing. The small cat was entirely black safe for a white spot on its chest and its very green eyes.

He knew what or, to put it better, _who_ had probably been the inspiration for that design—himself—but he could not help but see someone else in it. The small cat looked like his mother.

Behind him, Adrien only barely heard Félix thank Marinette for something having to do with his mug and a good colour choice, but he wasn’t listening. Instead he lightly petted the cat’s head, still staring at it in wonder. The green wool that had been used for the eyes was the perfect colour too, making it only too easy for Adrien to picture it as his mother. Had it really already been nine months since he had last seen her? It felt like it had only been a few weeks at most while at the same time it also felt like years. Close but far away. Yes, that described it pretty fittingly.

“Adrien, are you alright?” Marinette’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he looked at her for a moment without saying anything. He simply didn’t have words for what he wanted to say. After struggling for another few seconds, he eventually hugged her tightly. He didn’t know what crying was like, but he sure felt like tears would have been appropriate at this moment.

“This is the best gift I ever got,” he said softly, so quiet that only Marinette could hear him. She hugged him back then, silently, apparently also at a loss for words. Adrien held the hug for longer than was probably appropriate, but screw manners, he just wanted her to know how happy she had made him. Happy and also a little sad. It was bittersweet.

The crocheted cat did not leave Adrien’s side for the rest of the day. He even almost hissed at Félix when he had wanted to take a closer look at it. Not that his brother would have been offended, but it would have probably looked weird to the other people present. Luckily, Félix had understood the murderous glare directed at him correctly.

Adrien thought about the fate of his past plushies, which had all been destroyed when he had played with them. At one point, his father had stopped buying any for Félix and him. If it was because they were accidentally destroying them or because he thought they were too old for them was unknown. In any case, Adrien swore that the crocheted cat plush that looked so much like his mother would _not_ meet such a fate. He would forever treasure and protect it!

 

The rest of the day was spent playing games with everyone—both video games and regular party games. Tom and Sabine busied themselves tidying up the kitchen and preparing the cake for the twins to take home with them—Adrien had never been gladder that Félix and he had a mini fridge in their room—while the four teenagers played Wii Party. It had them both rolling on the sofa from laughter and shouting in despair or outrage at different parts. Félix, surprisingly, ended up winning. He claimed to have had a strategy.

Afterwards they decided to play a round of twister. Nino was not bad, but he was still the worst from the four of them at it. Then again, he was up against two _Cat Sidhe_ , who were naturally flexible, and Marinette, who had surprisingly good balance for someone who regularly tripped over air. This time, Adrien won. In the end it had pretty much just been a battle between Félix and him which had drawn comments from Nino like “How are your spines not broken?!” or “Are models made out of rubber or something?!”. It was hilarious.

They then chose to end the day with a game of charades which Tom and Sabine also participated in. Hilarity ensued, especially when Félix, awkward as he was, had to mime ‘headbanging’ and ‘whirlpool’ among other things. It was also amusing to watch Nino trying to make everyone understand that him running through the room and throwing some of the wrapping paper was supposed to be a catapult. Marinette meanwhile had a very easy time miming whatever word she got, usually making it easy to guess with how expressive she was. The undeniable winner of the game though was Tom, who turned out to not only be a formidable video gamer but also a master at charades. The others had no chance.

When it was time to go home the twins only did so reluctantly. Adrien hugged everyone again and saw Félix, who usually only voluntarily hugged his brother and nobody else, share brief hugs with Tom and Sabine. Neither of them really knew what to say, but they felt like everyone still understood what they were trying to express.

“See you around dudes!” Nino said as he walked down the street away from the bakery. He and Marinette had accompanied them downstairs to the front door.

Adrien hesitated. He did not want to leave, but he knew he had to. He spontaneously shoved his cake in Félix’s arms whose balance luckily was still formidable, which did not mean that there were no complaints.

Adrien then turned around and hugged a very surprised Marinette.

“ _Thank you_ ,” he said with as much emphasis as he could. “This is the happiest I’ve ever been on my birthday.”


	17. Unfixable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> minor angst

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's right, the fluff is over! >:3  
> I see this as retribution to [MiniMinou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniMinou/) and [Bluetreeleaves](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluetreeleaves/) for making me feel things, so _have some angst back!_  
>  Also, the idea completely derives from a disappointed comment I got last chapter from [WanderingReader1019](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WanderingReader1019/) that demanded a reveal. I was actually gonna wait a few chapters, but this actually fits better when it happens now. Commence the angst! >:3c  
> Don't worry though, it won't be much angst at this point, but still angstier than all the chapters before. :3
> 
> PS: Blue, I loved your comments on the google doc of this, especially the "Yeet to the bed!" one! :'D and it's great that I managed to make you sad, because I didn't think I was capable of that. _RETRIBUTION!_ >:D

A scream that was definitely not human echoed through the Agreste mansion as claws dug for purchase on the wall and his teeth ached with the strong desire to tear something apart. To say that Adrien was angry would be an understatement.

Félix yelled at him, probably telling him to calm down, but Adrien did not listen. The rushing blood in his ears and his rage had erased all traces of noise around him. And he was not just angry, he was also desperate. Desperate and past the paralysing shock that had first gripped him.

Only when strong arms wrapped around him from behind and forcefully tore him off the wall did he start to hear noise again.

“Calm down,” Félix hissed just as Adrien realised that there was an urgent knocking at the door. He could not be calmed down by mere words at this point though.

“Then fix it!” He roared, making his brother flatten his ears at the sheer volume of it. It was an unreasonable thing to ask; fixing what could not be fixed, but Adrien demanded it nonetheless. He did not believe that the world was as cruel as it was, forcing this situation on him and making his nightmares become true.

Nathalie said something from outside the door that Adrien did not catch, his frantic thoughts too loud to concentrate on the subtle noises of his surroundings. What he did hear though was Félix’s angry snarl towards the door.

“Go away Nathalie! This does not concern you!”

Adrien wiggled himself free of his brother’s grip and glared at him.

“Fix. It.”

“We can’t,” Félix replied, but Adrien did not care for the remorse in his face.

“You can fix it, Fé! You can fix everything!” A desperate tone snuck itself into his voice and a shiver overtook his body as he felt the anger dissipating, letting the hopelessness slowly win over.

“I can’t undo what has been done.”

“It can’t stay this way! We can’t just give up!”

Adrien felt his knees wobble as they threatened to give out under him. Felix quickly caught him before he fell and wrapped his arms around his limp brother. With careful steps, he dragged Adrien's shivering body to the bed.

“We can’t let that happen,” Adrien whimpered, his voice quiet. “This isn’t right. This isn’t how it was supposed to go.”

He was pretty much thrown on the bed by Félix and immediately scrambled to find Emilie—he fittingly had named the crocheted cat after their mother. He hugged the small black plushie tightly to his chest and curled up around it. It did not give him any comfort, but it at least gave him something to hold on to as the world was falling apart around him.

 

_“Can we build a blanket fort again?”_

_Marinette rolled her eyes as she gathered up different snacks and pastries from the kitchen._

_“You’ve been here for five seconds, Adrien. Calm down.”_

_He smiled sheepishly and his hand went to the back of his neck. Right, patience was a thing._

_“Sorry, I’m just excited. I’ve never had a sleepover before!”_

_“I figured. I’m still surprised you agreed though.”_

_“We get the opportunity to mock horrible fashion choices with you. That is a good way to vent after all the photoshoots and fittings we were forced into,” Félix remarked as he finished taking off his shoes and orderly put them down near the door._

_“Well, if you put it that way it really is the perfect way to spend a sleepover,” Marinette said with an amused grin. Little did she know that Adrien was not interested much in watching the live footage of this year’s fashion week. He was much more excited about being able to hang out with her again without homework getting in the way._

My first sleepover.

_The thought made him giddy again. Movies and TV shows had always painted it out to be a fun, harmonic thing, usually between girls where they told each other secrets and ate snacks while watching movies. He did not get why that should only apply to girls though and Marinette had thoroughly assured him that Nino and she had had several sleepovers and it had always been a lot of fun._

_‘It’s the same we usually do just in our PJs and with sleeping involved,’ she had said._

_Taken, Adrien had first been extremely worried about the sleeping part because he was afraid their glamours would fail. An evening spent reading the spell book Mélusine had gifted them had thankfully solved that problem. The key was to wear a gemstone where the glamour spell was stored instead of having to consciously concentrate on keeping it in place._

_With that issue out of the way, Adrien would have no problem enjoying the sleepover._

_Would Nathalie freak out when she wouldn’t find the two of them in their beds that night? Probably. Would their father punish them for running away again? Undoubtedly! But it would still be worth it!_

_As the three of them went up to Marinette’s room, Félix carrying the duffel bag, Adrien couldn’t be happier._

_“I’ve been working on something earlier, so it’s still a little messy,” Marinette apologized. “I was planning to tidy up before you got here, but I lost track of time.”_

_“It’s okay, we can help!” Adrien immediately offered._

_“Thanks, but you really—”_

_“It’ll get done faster that way. So how can we help?” Félix interrupted her, already used to her habit of wanting to do everything on her own. She sighed._

_“Alright. Can you pick up the fabric scraps and put them into the box over there? I’ll handle the desk.” Said desk was basically_ buried _under sewing supplies. It was not a fair division of work, but then again, Adrien doubted that he could sort her different colours of threads the way she wanted to. That was a thing with her: she had her own order. Even if other people just saw chaos, she saw a system and it worked for her._

_The three of them got to work and only a short time later did the twins finish their task._

_“Where does the box go?” Adrien asked while Marinette was sorting different needles into their rightful place._

_“Next to the trapdoor by the other boxes.”_

_When Adrien put it down, he noticed a new addition to her collection of boxes. A medium sized wooden one that had decorative yet simple carvings on its sides._

_Growing curious, he crouched to see the details of it. Only when he saw a triskelion did he pause. Why would Marinette have a box with a triskelion on it? Well, it was a commonly used Celtic symbol and these days might even be seen wrongfully used in jewellery and art. But carved into a wooden box? That did not seem like Marinette’s style._

_He looked back over his shoulder but saw that Marinette was still assorting her sewing supplies in a hurry while Félix threw him a questioning look._

_The box did not_ smell _like Marinette. At least not entirely. It might have been in her room for a week at most, but the smell of herbs and old wood was still strong. Something at the back of his mind recognized the scent as familiar, which in conjunction with the triskelion was_ not _a soothing thought._

_“Where did you get that box, Marinette?” He eventually asked. Something in his tone made her turn around with a frown as Adrien pointed at the wooden object. He did not dare touch it._

_“Oh, that,” she said and her face immediately lighted up as she came over to him. “I got it as a gift.”_

_Adrien could feel his invisible tail lashing nervously under the glamour as Marinette picked up the box and opened it. Inside was a collection of ornaments…no, those were not regular glass ornaments._

Witch balls! _His mind provided and he immediately felt like he had swallowed a rock._

_“From who?” Félix asked while Adrien was still frozen._

Please don’t say ‘Mel’, please don’t say ‘Mel’, please don’t say—

_“A shop in Montparnasse,” she chirped, oblivious to how Adrien_ froze _at the mention of it. “Do you remember Adrien? We walked past it when we made this delivery back in July? You know, the one where we established that you have terrible fashion sense?”_

_She was joking and at any other time he would have laughed and joked back, but he could not find anything funny in this conversation._

_“Y-y-you went t-t-to Mel’s place?!”_

Now _Marinette showed appropriate concern. Had he ever stuttered in front of her? Yeah. Had it ever been with a hoarse voice and in panic? No._

_“Adrien, is everything alright?”_

No, it isn’t.

_“What did she ask for in exchange for those orbs?” Félix asked, much more articulate than Adrien who at this moment tried very hard to keep it together._

_“Well, funny story—”_ No, not funny _, “she said all I had to do was keep her company now and then and it was pretty nice honestly. We drank tea and knitted and she even gave me advice for my designs! She said those ornaments are called witch glasses and that they protect from evil. Not that I believe in those things, but they still look pretty so I thought about hanging them up in my room, I just didn’t have the time yet. Do you want to help me?”_

_During her story, Adrien sat on the floor, his legs too weak to hold him up. When she was about to go away, he caught her hand._

_“Marinette…d-d-did you give her y-y-your n-name?” It was a risky question but he just_ had to _know._

_Marinette looked at him with a puzzled expression for a moment. “Yes? I mean, she already knew the name of my parent’s bakery and therefore where I lived, so it’s not like it did much harm, right?”_

_Adrien had stopped listening after ‘yes’. Her hand slipped out of his grip and he had paled significantly._

No.

Not her.

No, no, no, no, no, _NO!_

_A cold feeling gripped him and he could feel his limbs getting numb. Marinette had given her name to a fair one and on top of things made a_ deal _with them._

Needless to say, there had not been a sleepover afterwards. Adrien, as shocked as he had been, had been dragged home by Félix with the excuse that he might have caught a bug that was going around. It was a lie, but one that did not lead to many questions. How his brother had gotten him home in the first place was a mystery. He only remembered seeing the mansion wall and shifting to more easily climb it. Then he had broken down in their room.

 Clutching Emilie to his chest, who still faintly smelled like Marinette, he desperately searched for a way to salvage the situation. His mind, however, only came up with all kinds of horror scenarios.

_Marinette, dancing in a palace made of gold, silver and diamonds, her feet bleeding and her eyes misty from an enchantment that kept an empty smile on her face._

_Marinette, forced to drink faerie wine and eat faerie food, transforming her into a being that was neither human nor faerie._

_Marinette, going through life with a face empty of emotion, never speaking and not eating; her soul stolen away._

_Marinette, in a beautiful dress, walking down a path of flowers—_

A yank at his tail made the horrible images stop and Adrien let out a painful hiss.

“Snap out of it!” Félix shouted. He then sighed and let himself fall down on the bed too.

“This is a mess we can’t fix, but that doesn’t mean that things will get worse.”

“What do you mean?” Adrien demanded, still not completely drawn out of his panic.

“I mean that Mélusine won’t necessarily sell Marinette to the Court. She holds something against us with that, but the Court doesn’t care…yet. We’ll just need to find out what she wants in return.”

Getting a clear answer out of Mélusine? That would certainly be easier said than done…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my chapter plan is completely screwed up at the moment because originally this was going to be a 10k chapter including a lot more, but then I decided to split it in not just two, but _three_ parts. So this was a little shorter than my usual chapters (thank god) and the next one will be around that length too. Chapter 19 will be much longer though and I'm still trying to figure out the exact plot of it. As soon as it gets into detailed fairy lore I have to consult my sources and that takes time! :'D  
>  The next chapter will definitely come out this month, but I'm not sure about the chapter after that. We'll see! ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	18. Autumn Bliss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> enjoying the autumn weather

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not sorry about the angst from the previous chapter, hence I won't apologize for it. In fact, your outrage was extremely motivating! >:3c  
> This is the last chapter out of Marinette's POV for a while...or so I say now. I might actually change my mind as I quite frequently do.  
> Anyway, I had this chapter in my head for so many months now and it's nice to finally have gotten to write it! <3
> 
> Thanks a lot [Bluetreeleaves](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluetreeleaves/) for beta-reading it and fixing all those stupid mistakes I made! You're a lifesaver! ;W;

Marinette petted the cat that was loudly purring on her lap while she created mood boards on Pinterest to get inspiration for winter designs. She didn’t know when exactly it had started but the black cat had developed a habit of visiting her quite frequently. He would drop in almost daily through her open skylight and demand her attention. Attention which she could not always give him, so he usually sabotaged whatever she was doing at that moment by winding around her legs or laying down on her lap. The latter was especially hindering when she was working with her laptop already in her lap, resulting with the feline to lie down on top of it.

She had often played with the idea of giving the stray a proper name, but after calling him ‘kitty’ for so long, it had kind of stuck.

On this day, she had just returned from a stressful school day—Chloé had been a pest again—and just looked for some relaxation and time for herself. Hot chocolate, pyjamas and browsing Pinterest it was! And apparently a cat was also part of the equation. He seemed quite calm that day, not making a nuisance of himself by stopping her from whatever she was doing for a change.

The quiet atmosphere was interrupted by her vibrating phone. She sighed and then picked it up.

“Is the world ending?” She asked as a greeting while she kept scrolling through a wall of different colour palettes.

“What?” The bewildered answer was a little amusing.

“You never call,” Marinette clarified.

“So far there has not been an occasion for it,” Félix said.

“Then this seems to be an occasion. What’s up?”

“I just wanted to ask if you’ve heard from Adrien in the last two hours.”

Marinette stopped her scrolling to check her phone for messages. The last thing Adrien had sent her was something about being bored at a fitting, but that had been four hours ago.

“No, I haven’t. I can go downstairs and check if he’s in the bakery.” Though that would be unusual. Even when he was held up by her parents, he usually immediately went up to greet her.

The cat gave a loud meow in protest as Marinette stood up from the chair.

“Do you have a cat with you?” Félix asked and for some reason he sounded like he was facepalming.

“Yeah, a stray that sometimes visits me.”

“If that stray happens to be black with a white spot on the chest and green eyes, then please throw him out right this instant. I’ve had a lot of encounters with him and he has caused me nothing but trouble so far.”

Marinette raised her eyebrows so high they disappeared beneath her fringe.

“I didn’t know you made a habit of petting strays.”

“I don’t. Just throw the cat out please. And don’t bother looking for Adrien. If he’d be in the bakery, you would definitely know about it by now.”

 

 

The weather was shifting cooler now that the autumn months had hit. Marinette was ready: a handmaid baggy grey sweater with pockets, it was long enough to look elegant. The outfit was completed with a pair of dark grey jeans and a loose viscose shirt with a pretty coral-pinkish pattern she had found on sale at the end of summer.

Said shirt was the only thing she wore that she hadn’t made herself and she was quite proud of the entire ensemble to be honest. What made it even more special was that she was _outside_ with said outfit on. She had never dared to walk around in her own creations outside of the safe confines of her home. It would have been too easy for Chloé to ruin one of them either physically, or by saying something nasty. Out of fear to encounter the class bully out on the street, she hadn’t dared to wear anything self-made while going shopping or on deliveries either.

This day, however, was different. After all, the chances that Chloé would show up in _Bois de Vincennes_ was quite low. A literal forest was probably the last place Marinette would ever encounter the blonde at, so she felt safe.

And not that she was comparing her outfit, _but_ it was still clearly outshined by the incarnation of sunshine that skipped ahead of her. Adrien had donned a cat pun shirt, jeans and a loose black jacket. She had not made his outfit herself, but she had picked it, which was almost just as good. Besides, Adrien had the ability to make _everything_ look good, especially when he was sporting a grin that could best be described as ‘innocent joy.’

The afternoon sunlight and the flying golden leaves created a wonderful backlighting and even though she didn’t know much about photography, she knew that some photographers would _kill_ for this setting _and_ the model. She couldn’t help but take a few pictures with her phone while Adrien sported one of the happiest smiles she’s ever seen at the colourful trees around them.

“He needed this,” Félix said from beside her, his hands buried in his pockets and his default neutral expression in place. If this would have been the first time Marinette had heard Félix speak, she would have said that he was absolutely uninterested. By now, she knew better though. There was an attentive and content shimmer in his eyes that relied his true emotions better than any expression could. He was happy too.

“Yeah, I noticed that he has been down lately and the weather was nice today, so I thought he’d like to go for a walk. The trees won’t stay as pretty as they are now for much longer after all.”

“Good call, as always.”

Marinette nodded and they spent some minutes in silence watching Adrien excitedly dart around and catch falling leaves, though his method of swatting at them did not seem very effective. He was never this lively and playful in public usually, afraid that he would catch the attention of paparazzi or just random people who would recognize him and take sneaky photos to upload on social media. It just made Marinette that much more sure that coming to this particular park—if one could call it that with how huge it was—had been a good idea.

In the previous three weeks things had taken a downhill path. To be exact, it had been on the day where they were supposed to have a sleepover and Adrien had suddenly started acting weirdly. Questions about it had been evaded by both twins, so Marinette had been left to piece the puzzle pieces together herself.

First off, she believed them when they said that Adrien had been sick. The weeks leading up to fashion week had been one fitting or photoshoot after the other for both of them, so no wonder it had taken a toll. Adrien had seemed totally normal and cheerful beforehand though, so Marinette had focused her attention close to what had caused his mood to change: the box.

At first, she had not been able to even remotely guess what it could have been that had set him off so badly, but then she had remembered something Félix had told her once when he had come over and taste-tested hot chocolates with her. Their mother had liked Celtic things.

Adrien rarely talked about his mother and when he did, it was always with a sadness Marinette did not know what to do about. Maybe the box had reminded him of her and he was more sensitive to the topic than Félix was. That might have been it, which would mean that she should hide the box in their storage closet and avoid other things that could trigger another breakdown.

Now that she was alone with the stoic brother on the forest path, Adrien still running around out of earshot, Marinette decided it was the perfect opportunity to ask Felix: “It wasn’t just a bad cold, was it?”

“Calling it a _family drama_ would be a little far-fetched, but it is something similar. I’d love to say that he’s just being paranoid, but…” Félix trailed off, seemingly at a loss for words. How unusual.

“It’s serious then.”

“Yes.”

The problem being _family drama_ fit Marinette's theory about their mother. She had no idea what the two of them would have to be paranoid about though.

Before she could ask further though, a fan of leaves was shoved into her face.

“Mar, look!” Adrien was suddenly back at her side. “Aren’t they pretty?”

The nicknames had started recently, around the time of his and Félix’s birthday. She had never noticed before then how rarely Adrien had ever used her real name to begin with. She honestly found the nicknames to be quite endearing and she hoped it meant that they were becoming even better friends. Now she just needed to find a good one for him in return.

Marinette snorted. “Are you going to wax poetry about them now?”

Adrien blushed. “Stop reminding me of my shame!” He said dramatically and held the leaves to his forehead as if he was a lady in a cliché old movie that was about to faint.

“Nope, your shame is here to stay.”

He pouted and it looked unfairly adorable. Marinette couldn’t help but smile warmly. She took the leaves from him and studied them. The vibrant colours and the patterns on the different kinds of leaves were indeed very pretty and also very inspiring.

“You’re right, the leaves _are_ pretty,” she said.

Adrien positively _beamed_ as she carefully placed them in her sketch book and put it back into her bag. He then unexpectedly took her hand and gently pulled her forwards.

“I’ll show you where I found them.”

Marinette had become very familiar with Adrien’s excited grin over the last few months as well as with his tendency to touch people whenever he got the opportunity to. Suddenly grabbing her hand therefore was nothing out of the ordinary, but she could not help but feel like there was something off about it. Sure, everything looked the same as usual, but there was also a weird feeling of urgency accompanying it.

As he led her down the forest path he kept talking about the different trees and claimed to have climbed most of them. When Marinette saw a wide-leafed tree with plenty of horse chestnuts lying on the ground around it, she started collecting them in her bag.

“What are you doing? I don’t think you can eat those,” Adrien said, receiving only a perplexed stare and a few seconds of silence in return.

“Let me guess: you have never crafted anything with horse chestnuts before.”

“No? Is that bad?”

Marinette rolled her eyes and let out an overdramatic sigh.

“Guess this is another thing you have been unfairly deprived of. Come on, help me collect some and then we can craft something with them when we get home.”

 

The afternoon continued in this manner, collecting horse chestnuts, acorns and when it came to Félix even the occasional twig. Adrien let out a loud, excited gasp when he found a yellow flower growing near the path, only to shriek in alarm a few seconds later when he found out that its entire stem was black from an aphid infestation.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find a clean one,” he had said, as if getting this specific flower was crucial for their survival.

“And if you don’t?” Marinette asked. The flowers did not look very special after all and it seemed very likely that all flowers of that kind in the area would be infested. Adrien seemed torn, looking back and forth between the flower and her.

“I’ll brush off the aphids then,” he eventually said with an unpleasant shudder.

“Why do you need the flower that badly?” Marinette asked, as she picked a poppy from the side of the path. It was free of any aphids as far as she could tell. The silence that followed made her look up from the red flower to catch Adrien staring at her in what she could only describe as panic. The expression was gone as soon as their gazes met and he shook his head.

“It’s important,” he just mumbled but dropped the topic afterwards.

Félix, meanwhile, _snickered_ —a sound Marinette could not recall to have ever heard from him. He unexpectedly took the poppy flower out of her hand and threw it into the lake.

“I recommend to keep your hands off those if you want to have safe dreams.”

Things started to get weird from then on, starting with both twins being fiercely against sitting under a willow tree by the lake. When she asked why, they couldn’t properly answer her, just giving lame excuses like ‘someone could slip and fall into the lake.’

Marinette eventually conceded. With how strongly both of them reacted they surely had their reasons, even if neither wanted to tell her about it. That let her imagination run wild though. Had one of them at one point fallen into a lake? Did they have bad experiences of some sort with a lake? Might it even be something about their mother?

The thoughts were still swirling through her head when they got back home hours later and half-heartedly made some figures out of the horse chestnuts.

 

 

One week went by and instead of using the free time _Toussaint_ granted her to catch up on some sewing, Marinette spent almost every day with the twins or just with Adrien. Not that she was complaining, but the weird feeling that something was wrong manifested itself in the back of her thoughts. Suddenly Adrien’s smile seemed strained, his laugh lacking its usual joy and his excitement cutting back.

She couldn’t help but ask herself if it was her fault. Was she being boring after all? Had she perhaps even misjudged them and they were not quite her friends? But then she reminded herself of all the nice things they have experienced together and especially, most recently, their birthday party. They both had been _so happy_. It just wasn’t like them to cut off something they enjoyed.

That was when her dark thoughts drew the next possible solution: They wanted to keep her away from something. Perhaps they were just wary that the press would eventually catch them together with her and then cause her trouble. Yes, being overly worried about something like that was very like them. Marinette just hoped that this was all there was to it and that it wasn’t anything worse.

 

 

“Hmm, you might be right with that,” Mel said and set her teacup back down. Marinette, guilty she hadn't visited in two weeks, decided to use the afternoon to stop at the old shop in Montparnasse—the twins were forced to go to a photoshoot during that time. A little piece of advice from the older woman couldn’t hurt.

“So, I’m not just seeing things,” Marinette sighed in relief and slumped back into the antique chair. Mel’s lips curled in an almost imperceptible smile.

“Maybe seeing things is the whole problem here, sweetheart. Whatever they are doing, they do not want you to know about it. It might be best if you stop looking and just let them be mysterious. Everyone needs secrets.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is already written and currently being beta-ed. It's 12k words long, so you'll be in for a treat! ;D  
> There is a tiny reference/foreshadowing to the next chapter included in this one. Can you spot it? >:3c


	19. Samhain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to a living nightmare!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would apologize for taking so long with this chapter, but since it is 13k words long I am sure you guys can forgive me. I thought about splitting it into two, but that would have still been a 3k chapter and a 10k chapter so I just kept it as one. I promise to write shorter chapters from now on! ;A;
> 
> Thanks a lot, Blue and Chris, for helping me make this chapter work at all! ;w; We did it! <333
> 
> Also, with this, I officially surpass 100k words with this fanfiction! *does a happy dance*  
> So many words and they still don't have their miraculous! I feel ASHAMED! *crawls into the box of shame*
> 
> * * *
> 
>  **trigger warning** for this chapter! Mentions of torture and death.  
>  I'm not graphic about any of it because I want to keep the T-rating, but it's heavily implied.

If there was anything that could help stabilize Adrien’s fragile mental state, then an invitation to the Samhain revel was _not_ it. In fact, it just made things worse.

“We can’t go!” He howled as the two of them were alone in their room, his voice so loud that Félix flattened his ears at the volume. The invitation to the Samhain revel had only contributed to Adrien's erratic mood swings. Granted, it had come from a small green-tinged pixie that had stepped out of a rock in their garden just a few hours ago at dawn.

“Let’s think about it,” Félix said as he went over the swirly handwriting again.

Their mother had always gone to the revel on Samhain and left the two of them with Chloé and Sabrina where they would be safe. This meant that they only had a vague idea of what the revel actually was about, but they knew one thing for certain: _they_ had never been invited. So far, they had assumed that it was because they were halflings, but apparently there had been an entirely different reason all along.

“Are you _crazy_?! What if you let something slip?! They would descend on Marinette like vultures!”

…His brother was not wrong about that. The Courts took any chance they got to mess with humans and Marinette was a tempting target: young, innocent, female...

Félix quickly shook his head. It was enough that Adrien had vivid nightmares about the _what if_ , he didn’t need to start with that too.

“We can’t just decline the invitation either.”

“Why not?!” Adrien hissed. He had shifted and was sitting on the highest level of the cat playground, together with his treasured plushie. Félix rolled his eyes.

“You’ve been among humans a lot lately, but don’t tell me that made you forget simple fae manners.”

Adrien grumbled something unintelligible and glared down at his brother.

“Don’t give thanks for gifts, but also never turn down a gift,” Félix said after it was clear that Adrien was not keen on giving an answer any time soon. “An invitation works in the same way.”

“And never accept one either because it’s most certainly a trap,” he immediately hissed back, his voice venomous. “The whole gift thing is a lose-lose situation for the recipient and a win-win for the giver. No, I _didn’t_ forget that little detail!”

Adrien was right of course, but that didn’t help them one bit. It meant that at least one of them _needed_ to accept the invitation and show up. Seeing how Adrien had a hard time controlling his temper at the moment, it would have to be Félix. He was not thrilled.

“I’m not surprised you showed up, though I expected it to be sooner. Did it really take you this long to figure out?”

A smile played across Mélusine’s lips as she stirred honey into her cup of tea. Félix was not fazed and just crossed his arms. He was very glad that Adrien had not come along, since he would have undoubtedly freaked out at this first sentence already.

“You upset my brother,” was all Félix said as he sat down across from the old halfling at her kitchen table. She just smiled as if he had said something funny.

“Yes, he is quite emotional, isn’t he? That’s what made it easy to figure out your little secret. And when _I_ can figure it out, then the Courts can too.”

Félix glared at Mélusine. “Is that a threat?”

“No, kitten. It is advice and a hint that I did you a small kindness.”

“I do not believe in kindness from the fair folk.”

“How about kindness from a fellow halfling then? Bargains already cause me enough trouble. I certainly don’t look for more on top of it.”

“Then what do you gain from it?”

A small smile crossed her lips.

“You know about my past, I assume?”

“Depends on which part you want me to focus on. If you mean the part of having a shitty human father and hope to make me sympathize, then don’t bother.”

“You don’t need to sympathize, but I certainly do. Look what killing him got me,” she said with an exasperated sigh as she adjusted her serpentine lower half and wiggled the tip of her grey-scaled snake tail in the air for emphasis.

Usually Mélusine did not let anyone into her shop or house on Saturday nights due to this form. It was a widely-known shame of hers and she did not appreciate it when fair folk visited her just to mock her fate.

Félix had taken a huge gamble when he had knocked on her door that evening and was quite surprised to be let in without any more questions asked.

“I’m not planning to get myself cursed if that’s what you’re implying. I would appreciate it if we could return to the original topic though,” he said and continued.

“Yes, I do know about your past beyond what your legends tell. You adopted children because you could not bear the sight of your own and raised them.”

“Smart kitten. Now, my _gain_ in all this is quite simple: company. I have not raised a child for almost a decade and I miss it. The legal process of adoption these days is quite bothersome and you cannot just take orphans from the streets anymore like you could back in the day.”

“I thought you raised changeling exchanges?”

“No, those are rare. They usually keep the stolen children to themselves, because that is _their_ gain from all of it. I am merely one of those desperate women now who wait for her spot on some _list_. It is a very bothersome process.”

That was news to Félix and it sounded much less mysterious than the image he had built of her in his mind.

“You can’t steal someone away from their family like that. People will notice,” he argued, getting back to the topic of Marinette while being careful not to say her name. Just in case.

“I don’t have to. Being visited once in a while and drinking a cup of tea is all I ask for. To take on a child completely would require time I don’t have. I would be forced to close down the shop and I don’t really feel like doing that at the moment. This arrangement is beneficial to all sides.

“Besides, if the fair folk assumes she belongs to me, then they will not try to do any mischief with her. They will also be less suspicious when you two are seen around her. I know you think you’re being subtle, but by Danu, I already had to convince _three_ of my customers that the girl belonged to me to explain your connections to her.”

Félix froze.

“Did you really think that two naïve kittens could outsmart a Court full of old fair folk? She would have been dead two months ago if I had not intervened. I was glad when she eventually showed up in my shop. Such a sweet girl.”

“I'm still not convinced that you don't have an ulterior motive.”

“You can believe whatever you want, kitten. I can assure you though that I do not intend to cause Marinette any harm, nor do I want to cause you two any trouble.”

Mélusine lightly tapped her spoon at the rim of the tea cup before laying it aside and taking a dainty sip.

“Now,” she said after setting the tea cup back down, “I assume you have received an invitation as well and that Samhain is the actual reason for your spontaneous visit.”

Félix gulped. Thoughts of the Samhain revel had not left him ever since receiving the invitation at dawn, which was why he had not wanted to wait any longer to see Mélusine about it. There was literally no one else he could ask.

“Yes,” he eventually said with a strangled-sounding voice. He cleared his throat and then asked the question he already knew the answer to: “We can’t refuse it, can we?”

“You know you can’t,” Mélusine simply replied. “It is even a stretch if only one of you attends, better not push your luck.”

Félix let out an unamused snort. “What luck?”

“Don’t underestimate your magic, especially not on Samhain when blessings and curses come easiest to you. In any case, I am glad you have come to me now, so we have some time to practice.”

“Practice?”

“Shielding your mind from the Folk, dear. It’s not an easy task for a halfling and you will have to tap into your fae side to make it work, but I’m sure you can do it. You won’t be able to perfect it before Samhain, but it will have to be enough.”

A shudder ran down his spine at the proposition. He had read about that spell in the book Mélusine had written for them and, despite it being quite advanced, it also required ridding himself of human sentiments. He was rooted, but the fair folk wasn’t. It made his thoughts easy to read, like catching a fish in shallow water. _Unrooting_ himself would mean to give up his humanity…at least for a little while. The thought of becoming like the fair folk to protect himself from them left a sour taste in his mouth. Then again, this was how faerie magic worked: everything had a price.

“Wait, you said that Marinette will be safe as long as the folk thinks she belongs to you. Why would my thoughts be dangerous?”

Mélusine sighed deeply.

“Kitten, that only concerns the local Courts because they know and respect me for my work. The revel on Samhain consists of Courts from all around the world. They might have heard about me, but that doesn’t mean that they will respect me enough to keep their gnarly fingers away from my children.”

Something in her tone showed that she was speaking from painful experience.

“The rights of a halfling are pitiful in the grand scheme of things, so you will always have to be careful when you’re among other Courts or even your own.”

Félix was quiet for a bit.

“Alright, when do we start?”

Unrooting himself at first felt like someone had pulled out a carpet from underneath Félix’s feet and he was stumbling, desperate to find balance. It was almost like Midsummer without St. John’s wort, just that the pull at this time of year was subtler and slipping was therefore avoidable. After being rooted for so long with an almost normal human life, unrooting himself felt welcome but wrong at the same time.

It was by far not the first time Félix existed in the in-between since such a thing was unavoidable when growing up as part faerie. He actually felt comfortable in this state. Weightless and uncaring.

Not belonging to either world inspired recklessness though. What were the consequences after all?

Still, it was not human at all, which also made it feel wrong at times. A state with no consequences was an invitation to ignore basic morals.

“Félix,” Adrien said, his voice hesitant and his tail lashing nervously. “It might be better if you stay here for today…or at least to go somewhere else.”

That statement instantly brought Félix back to the here and now, putting an end to his balancing act between the two realms. He blinked, not quite able to process what Adrien had said.

“E-excuse me?”

Adrien bit his lip and looked away, his tail lashing faster and a quiet purr rumbling in his throat as he grew more anxious.

 _Anxious of_ me _?_

“I-I get that you have to practice, but this is freaking me out. What if you slip up near Marinette? She would immediately notice that something is off.”

“I won’t slip up,” Félix said, not knowing if it was the truth or if he just said it because it was the right thing to say to get what he wanted.

“You almost did when we went on that walk in the forest last week! Don’t think I didn’t hear you! ‘I recommend to keep your hands off those if you want to have safe dreams,’ you said after throwing her poppy flower into the lake!”

Had he really said that? He only remembered to have taken the flower from her to prevent her from accidentally invoking faeries into her dreams. Something Adrien obviously had not looked like he was about to do.

“It was for her protection. You know that,” Félix said adamantly.

Adrien frowned and flattened his ears.

“I’m sorry Fé, but I don’t want Marinette to be in danger.”

“Oh, and _you_ are _not_ putting her in danger?”

Félix knew it was wrong the moment the words left his mouth. He had no right to snap at Adrien, especially not with a fragile topic like that. The reaction was instantaneous.

Adrien’s tense posture slumped, his tail now limb on the ground and his eyes blown wide with hurt and disbelief.

Félix winced. He had not meant it. Unrooting and rooting himself while trying to shield his mind had exhausted him, especially since he had practiced it with the same determination with which he practiced a piece on the piano until perfection. It was still no excuse. It would never be an excuse.

Before Félix could apologize, Adrien opened the window, shifted and jumped outside into the grey Parisian afternoon.

“And you really can’t stay?” Marinette asked over the phone, something Félix could only hear due to his good ears. Adrien was calling Marinette on the other side of the room, as if trying to keep her as far away from him as possible. Félix would lie if he’d say that this didn’t hurt.

His brother and him had always been together and trusted each other with everything, but now it seemed like this trust was slowly breaking as Adrien grew wary of him.

He hated it. He hated it _so much_. It wasn’t like they never fought or said things they regretted, but this had been going on for a week now with no sign of improvement.

If things would go his way, then he would just not go to the revel in the first place and forget about the whole balancing between two realms thing. He would do _anything_ to get Adrien’s trust back.

“No, sorry. There’s something important I need to take care of, but I can come back tomorrow morning.”

“Don’t come too early please. I’ll probably stay up late tonight playing a horror game.”

“But when I come early, I can get more of these Halloween specialties you promised and make you a hot chocolate.”

Félix heard Marinette snort on the other end. “I’m sure Papa will save some for you _and_ give you all the scraps, no matter when you’ll turn up.”

“I’ll count on it,” Adrien said with a grin. A grin which he only directed at Marinette these days. Félix did his best to swallow his jealousy. It wasn’t fair to either of them.

“Alright, see you later then,” Marinette said.

“See you later, and don’t forget that I’ll come bearing gifts!”

Adrien hung up and Félix watched him wearing a blissfully happy expression for a few moments longer before it inevitably dropped and he let himself fall backwards on the bed with a heavy sigh.

It was the 31st of October. Samhain would begin at sunset, which meant they had only five and a half hours for the last preparations.

In Adrien’s case that meant going to Marinette’s place with a bouquet of St. John’s wort and a bunch of dried apples. Other charms like a fairy triad—twigs from an oak, an ash and a thorn tree tied together with white, red and black threads—and an array of different herbs had already been given to Marinette previously as dubious gifts. Adrien would have to convince her that he had a strong supervision about Samhain so that she would also keep all those things in place. This was not only about _her_ safety after all since Adrien was absolutely _not_ risking her to be alone on Samhain. He would find a way into her room as a cat and keep her safe while also being protected himself by the wards and by Marinette.

At least this way Félix did not need to worry about his brother while he went to the revel.

“Adrien,” he started, but Adrien quickly shut him up with a frown from across the room.

“Don’t,” he said. “I know what I’m doing and I’m being careful. You better worry about what _you_ are going to do tonight.”

He was still mad.

“It’s not like I _chose_ to go to the revel!” Félix hissed, sick of feeling blamed for all the chaos while he actually tried to prevent worse things from happening. He did this for them and for Marinette! Why couldn’t Adrien understand this?

“Fé, you’re losing yourself if you keep doing this. There has to be another way somehow.”

They both knew that there wasn’t. Easy ways did not exist with faerie magic. It sometimes _looked_ easy and simple, but that was only because it could hide its nastiness pretty well. A bad price for something good. Repercussions and suffering for every good intention.

 “I don’t want to have to look at you and ask myself if I’m looking at my brother or…” Adrien didn’t finish his sentence and decided to look away instead. Not that he needed to finish it for Félix to understand what he meant: a true Unseelie.

He knew that it should feel like a dagger to the heart that Adrien almost trusted him as little as he trusted all the fair folk he was protecting Marinette from. Oddly enough, though, it didn’t.

Being a true Unseelie did not sound like such a bad thing anymore. He was smart, after all. He would be witty and resourceful among everyone else, fitting in perfectly and not draw anyone’s attention. It was the perfect disguise. This way he would be able to hear their plans, learn what their tricks were and then he could tell Adrien so that they could protect themselves better.

It was good.

It was risky.

Adrien shouldn’t despise him for it. He gladly gave up some of his humanity if it meant to keep his brother safe. And Marinette too by extension.

Félix was _not_ ready. Walking through a dark forest and holding Mélusine’s hand like a lost child he flinched at every sound. Leaves blew in the wind, twigs snapped, and shadows scurried through the age-old trees. If Félix concentrated, he could see the amused and hungry red-yellow eyes of pookas, shape-shifting creatures who were tasked with dirtying each and every berry they could find.

A trail of floating blue lights—will-o'-the-wisps—lead deeper into the forest but Mélusine unerringly walked the opposite direction.

“They’re trying to lead us astray,” she had explained when Félix had wanted to follow them earlier, making them momentarily disappear. Of course he had known about the myth that will-o'-the-wisps fooled wanderers to deviate them from their path and let them get lost, but something still drew him to them.

“The souls of the dead favour neither side. They want to confuse the fair folk as much as they want to confuse humans. They are afraid of soul eaters though, which is why they disappeared when you tried to follow them,” Mélusine remarked with a chuckle, as if it had not sounded sinister at all. Cat Sidhe were soul eaters, even though Félix had never tried to eat a soul before. At least that explained why he felt drawn to the _spirits of the dead_.

_Creepy._

Félix did not know the name of the forest they walked through or even where it was. Mélusine had offered to accompany him to the revel which had naturally meant that they took one of her portals to get there. He had not asked where exactly it led, neither did he care. All he wanted was to survive this night and then return home.

Or did he?

Part of him wanted to thoroughly enjoy Samhain and partake in the festivities. He would not have to hide for once and there would be no one to tell him what to do and what not to do.

Why shouldn't he let himself enjoy it?

If he was forced to be there, he could as well delight in the benefits it offered.

“Remember your manners, kitten. Being among the folk is no reason to be reckless. In fact, it is the best reason to not be reckless. Show a single weakness and they will latch onto it.”

“I know that,” Félix growled.

_Who does she think she is!? My mother?_

A slap to the back of his head drew a hiss out of him.

“Get a grip. Tonight, the temptations are stronger so you’ll have to concentrate to resist them.”

“You’re making it sound easy.”

“I have done this several hundred times already, kitten. For you it is the first time near and soon _in_ a _sídhe_ on Samhain so it’s natural that you’re having trouble. Just concentrate and whatever you do: don’t relax and don’t give in.”

The forest thinned out eventually, giving way to a meadow with a hill at its centre. To humans it would probably look empty when also odd with the lanterns that lit it. Félix, however, could see the many faeries that roamed it, laughing and chatting while going in and out of the hill. Some just arrived through the air on horses of straw that turned back to single straw stalks when they landed.

Even though he grew up with the weirdness of faerie magic, he had to admit that this was the oddest thing he had ever experienced. And the night had barely even begun. He gulped and carefully kept his tail from nervously lashing.

_Show no weakness._

Félix would be a graceful and silent cat, just like his mother had taught him to be.

“Going into a _sídhe_ is not like going through one of my portals. Humans stumble into the fairy mounds by getting lost, but we are taking the direct path,” Mélusine said and pointed to a rock where a group of laughing pixies just disappeared into.

“But what about the people going through the hill?” Félix asked, since that seemed like the more obvious entrance. The older halfling chuckled.

“Those are apparitions and souls. They roam the lands tonight but they are not _present_ like we are.”

He could have kicked himself. Usually he was good at telling what was real from what was unreal, but the magic in the air confused his senses. How embarrassing. It was like confusing a pig for a deer.

“Time in the _sídhe_ flows as it likes,” Mélusine explained. “You could spend years in there and only a night would have passed in this world, or the other way around, so you can never be sure how long the night will really last. Just call my name when you’re ready to go home and I’ll find you and sort things out.”

They stopped in front of a stone with ancient engravings.

“After this you are on your own. Be a smart kitten,” Mélusine said with a motherly smile and scratched him behind the ears, probably to calm him down. It did not help to ease the nervous knot in his stomach. He took a few deep breaths and then nodded to Mélusine. He was not ready, but he probably would _never_ be ready for it anyway. Now was as good a time as ever to jump into the cold water.

The two of them stepped forward which made the stone _open up—_ there was no other way to describe it.

One moment they were still stood on the meadow with the hill and the next they walked on a path of white flowers that wilted when they stepped on them. The sky above them was not the familiar midnight blue anymore, but it looked like they were in the middle of the milky way, alit with millions of bright stars and colourful stardust.

The trees on either side of the path were so tall that Félix could not see their tops, but they still did not cover the sky. Amidst the trunks was occasional movement—deer, foxes, birds and other forest animals—but whenever Félix turned to look, said animal was already a rotting pile of bones on the ground. Grass was growing and turning yellow around the corpses, swallowing them.

There was one smaller tree that grew leaves, fruit and threw them off so fast that everything surrounding its branches was a blur while it shot up into the sky in height.

How many years passed in one second? Five? Ten? One hundred? He could not tell.

Just as he thought he was going to lose his mind, the strangely fascinating horror ended and he found himself confronted with an array of noise in a brightly lit place.

“What was that?” he whispered breathlessly.

“A faerie path, kitten. It’s a shortcut between worlds since a _sídhe_ is its own realm. It is not Tír na nÓg, but halfway there.”

Mélusine soothingly stroked his hair. “Calm down Félix, you have to concentrate now. Audrey wants to talk to you, so better seek her out. She doesn’t like running after people.”

A shudder ran down his spine.

_She really could have mentioned that earlier!_

Audrey Bourgeois was the chief of the Unseelie court in Paris—their mother’s and therefore also Adrien’s and Félix’s Court. Whatever she would want from him was guaranteed to be unpleasant.

“Where can I find her?” he asked, to which Mélusine just shrugged.

“You can only find anyone here when you know their name and unfortunately, her real name is not something she willingly shares. I sadly have business to attend to now and it would end badly for you if you were to be dragged into it. Good luck, kitten.”

Félix frowned as Mélusine gave him a last reassuring pet between the ears and then just _left_ him.

He needed a moment to collect himself and then looked around.

The room he stood in was a mixture of the most prestige palace he could ever imagine and a forest. Plants and shimmering precious metals and stones were equally used in shaping the architecture of this infinite room. And even though it was infinite, it seemed to have corners and doors leading to other rooms. A human would no doubt go crazy when trying to perceive this concept and even Félix had a little bit of trouble with accepting it.

Music was playing from everywhere and nowhere at once and even though it were different pieces each, they still harmonised with each other. Faerie music. It was alluring and made him want to join the dance floor instantly. Félix restrained himself.

_Don’t give in._

The rest of the noise was created by thousands of conversations, held by a wild array of fair folk. He could not quite decide whether it was soothing or disturbing to see other fair ones with animalistic or just simply inhuman features.

Practically everyone had fangs which they only too gladly flashed at each other in smiles and snarls alike, both looking so alike that it was hard to see which one was which. Knowing the fair folk: probably both.

Ears twitched, tails curled elegantly, wings flapped and extra limbs gesticulated wildly when stories were told or complaints were voiced. Félix saw claws, horns, antlers, fins, feathers, scales, beings that seemed to be made of stone and even some that looked like they were carved out of wood. He saw folk that barely reached his knee and some that were easily three times his size.

There was a lot of blonde hair and a lot of elaborate dresses, sewn with materials that were unthinkable to humans and looked like glittering water in the morning sun or dune grass in the sea wind. Said creatures—beauty and grace come to life—laughed and it was the loveliest sound he had ever heard. That was until a tinkling of bells made him flatten his ears and he almost hissed at the group of fae that had dared to wear those golden objects of horror.

“I see they are at it again this year,” a voice next to Félix grumbled and he almost jumped when he caught the scent of dog and saw the giant black canine next to him.

 _A Cú Sidhe. Your folk,_ his mind supplied.

“They?” Félix asked and fell back to his default tone of indifference.

“The Seelie Court of the Upper Rhine. They had bad relations with the Unseelie Court of the Black Forest for a while so they wore bells as protection. The conflict has been solved for years but they’re still paranoid,” the Cú Sidhe growled, his long tail curling behind him like black mist.

Now what was Félix supposed to say to that?

“They are inconveniencing a lot of guests that way, aren’t they?”

Well, it was better than saying nothing.

The black dog snorted. “As if they would care. They’re probably doing it out of exactly that reason.”

“Do not talk bad about other guests, Grim,” a female voice suddenly said.

Félix had not heard the faerie woman approach and that unsettled him. If the fair folk continued to appear around his vicinity out of thin air then he would continuously be caught off-guard. This was bad. For the first time in his life did his advanced senses feel useless. A frightening thought.

The female speaker was a tall and blonde fair one. Pointed ears, breath-taking beauty and red eyes were the only things that distinguished her from a human in appearance, which did not help him determining what race she was. The golden circlet around her head spoke volumes though: a faerie chief. Félix bowed politely as a greeting and she gave him a fanged smile in return.

“How adorable, a little halfling!” She squealed ecstatically and pushed the Cú Sidhe aside. Félix was not sure if he should feel flattered or insulted.

“Dance with me!” She said in the blunt but tempting fey tone one could not say ‘no’ to.

“It would be my honour. Though I can only spare one short dance since I need to find someone,” Félix said, as politely as he could. One wrong word and he would be trapped dancing with her forever. Even if he would say ‘just one song’ it would take the entire night at least, since each song flowed into the next, making it impossible to determine where one ended and another began.

“Let us find them first so we can dance for longer afterwards,” the blonde said excitedly and took his hand, dragging him through the crowd. “Who are we looking for?”

“The chief of the Unseelie Court of Paris,” Félix heard himself say. Usually he would have hissed and politely asked her to let go of him, but for some reason it felt _right_ that she was holding his hand. Why should he be uncomfortable anyway? After all, she helped him find who he was looking for.

…Who was he looking for again? Whoever it was, they could never be as beautiful and elegant and kind as the blonde that held his hand and mumbled words he could not understand with her sweet-sounding voice.

Suddenly the two of them found themselves in another part of the _sídhe_. When had that happened? How much time had passed? Guests were sparser here, the infinite-looking room dimmer and the music more silent.

They walked for a little bit, the Cú Sidhe from earlier following them silently. His presence really started to bother Félix. Why couldn’t he be alone with the beautiful blonde? Why did this overgrown dog think that he had any kind of claim on her? How pretentious of him!

Félix got his bearings back when they stopped and he recognized Audrey Bourgeois, standing at most ten metres in front of them. Her golden circlet gleamed in the light of some glowing crystals while she talked to a group of fair folk with antlers.

“Here we are,” the red-eyed blonde said in a sing-song voice and let go of his hand. “I’ll stay around so that you won’t run away afterwards,” she giggled and gave him a playful poke on the nose. He was glad that she would stay. At least _someone_ was friendly to him at this revel since he predicted the conversation with Audrey to be anything _but_ friendly.

He fought down the unpleasant shudder that begged to run down his spine and make the hairs on his tail stand on end while he walked over to Audrey and the antlered fae.

Luckily their conversation drew to a close just as he arrived and Audrey turned around to him, piercing him with her blue eyes. He hurried to bow. Disrespecting Audrey was a bad idea on all levels of the spectrum.

“Oh, Emilie’s kitten,” she did not sound pleased. In fact, she sounded like she had just gotten a very repulsive gift. “Where is your brother?”

 _Just tell her the whole truth, that will make things easier,_ a traitorous little voice in the back of his mind whispered, but he silenced it. Mélusine’s warning of temptations came to mind again. This would be a difficult conversation. He _could_ lie, but Audrey was exceptionally good at sniffing lies out. Careful wording it was then.

“He could not come. Our chef used rosemary in a recipe and my brother swallowed it before he noticed something was wrong.” It was not exactly a lie. Their chef had really once used rosemary and Adrien, hungry from a long photoshoot, had dug in without chewing much. He had to stay in bed for a week afterwards. Taken, that had been in May, but Audrey did not need to know that.

She huffed. “Ridiculous. I hope the chef was fired.” She made it sound like a challenge.

“We don’t have the authority to fire household staff and father does not care,” Félix replied with a shrug. Making his father look bad in front of the chief of Paris’ Unseelie Court was not the wisest thing to do, but his priorities currently lay elsewhere.

“Mélusine said you wanted to talk to me?”

Audrey rolled her eyes. “An unpleasant necessity, yes,” she sniffed and Félix knew immediately where Chloé got her attitude from.

“Since Emilie very rudely left without eradicating any deals she has made with my Court, we cannot touch anyone that lives in or works at your house, even if we know their names. She clarified that you and your brother are responsible for those deals in her absence, so I need your permission to dissolve all of them. That is all.”

Félix arched an eyebrow while trying very hard not to hiss at the Aos Sidhe. What she was asking for would take away every bit of a safety net their family had left. Sure, he did not particularly _like_ his father, and Nathalie often was annoying too, but that did not mean that he wished for them to be tortured by the fair folk.

“The deals stay,” Félix said with the strongest voice he could muster. Audrey, who had obviously expected no resistance arched her eyebrow.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Whatever deals, bargains and other arrangements my mother has made are to stay until she returns and says otherwise. I don’t see why I should mess with them after she has gone through the trouble of setting them up.”

“These humans know too much. It would be much easier to just dispose of them before they do something that endangers my Court.” Her voice had taken on a dangerously hissing quality at this point.

So _that_ was the problem. Audrey was not greedy in wanting access to even more humans in a city with a population of over two million. No, she was _afraid_ of those who knew how to fend the fair folk off. That made sense.

“Then that will be _my_ responsibility,” Félix said, hoping to end the conversation with that.

“You are just a halfling child,” she sneered. “What do you know about the responsibility over a Court?”

“But are those humans not his property?” The lovely voice of the other blonde faerie chief piped up from behind them. Félix turned around to see an amused grin on her face.

“Taking away the toys from a child. Shame on you,” she pouted while petting the Cú Sidhe beside her. Félix had to swallow his growl at the sight.

“The boy denied your request multiple times, so I suggest to leave it at that.” She came over and gently pulled Félix away from Audrey. “Now if you do not have any more business with him, I will have to take him away. He owes me a dance and I do not intend to wait for it any longer.”

Before Audrey could protest, Félix found himself in a loud room with music and full of dancing pairs.

 _Oh dear, this will most certainly have consequences._ One did not just _up and leave_ during a conversation with Audrey Bourgeois. Not that it was very important right now, since he was in the presence of the most amazing faerie he has ever met.

“That went well, didn’t it?” The faerie chief asked him with a giggle. Félix wanted to argue, but then realised that it would be rude so he kept quiet and just gave her a smile.

The room they were in assaulted his sensitive ears with too much noise so that he started to feel like he had been thrown into a beehive. Everything around him was buzzing with noise produced by sharp and damning tongues but he was kept in place by the red-eyed fair one’s presence, enticing like the smell of honey.

Wait, he really smelled honey.

That’s when he noticed that they were stood next to a table full of the finest food Félix had ever seen.

“So, you are Emilie’s son,” the faerie chief said as she poured a golden liquid into two glasses and offered one of them to him. This was the thing that smelled like honey.

 _Faerie food is dangerous,_ the back of his mind whispered automatically, but Félix did not care. He took a sip of the beverage and was sure to have never tasted something that good before, nor would he ever taste anything better.

 _Faerie wine. Nectar._ The words should ring alarm bells in his head, but he found himself not caring. It was absolutely delicious after all. Why should he be wary?

“I should have seen it earlier. You have her tail and her grace,” the fair one continued and let a hand glide through his blond hair.

“I do hope that is a compliment,” he said with a grin to evade a _thank you_. To his great delight, it made the fair one laugh.

“Oh, you precious little thing,” she said and petted him behind one ear, making him purr.

_Run away!_

Why should he run away?

“Your dear mother almost was part of my Court once, you know? Then she went to Paris.” The fair one sighed, apparently saddened by the retelling of the story.

“French fair folk.” She huffed dismissively. “Always so obsessed with making the poor rich and then living at the core of power. A waste of time if you ask me.”

Something in Félix bristled at that, but before he could even think about speaking in defence of his mother, the thought vanished and he found himself nodding. Agreeing with her was much easier than arguing with her after all! He did not want to argue with her. It would displease her. And he should never ever displease her.

She took the drink from his hand and set it and hers down on a tray carried by a servant.

“Shall we dance now?” It was not a question, as she took his hands and dragged him amidst the dancing pairs, who immediately freed some space for the two of them.

Dancing itself was easy. Félix has had dancing classes for as long as he could remember, so falling into a rhythm and letting his feet carry him without having to think about the steps was not the problem. What irked him was that the blonde fair one was that much better of a dancer. He could as well have the movement skills of a newborn fawn in comparison to her. It was embarrassing but he still did not want to stop. After all, it was a privilege to dance with her and she did not seem to mind his inferiority.

“You’re a cute little cat, you know that? With good manners too!” He preened at the praise.

“And you are beautiful,” he heard his mouth reply automatically. A compliment that was very true but it still made him blush. She laughed.

“Cat Sidhe have become so rare and I still don’t have one in my Court. Would you like to join it? All you’d have to do would be to give me a kiss and tell me your name. Very simple, you see? I would not take away what’s yours from you like Audrey does.”

That was a fantastic offer! He would be able to live under the Court of a kind faerie chief who he would not have to be afraid of. And for what price? A kiss and his name. Those were just two things and he could immediately give them to her!

Just as he was leaning in though, he felt the faerie chief’s hand be forcefully ripped out of his and another one took his place.

“We’re switching partners, alright?” A giggly voice said.

 _No!_ Not _alright!_

Before he could express his disagreement though, he was already gone from the dance floor and back at the table with the tasty food and drinks. Away from the beautiful faerie chief and the offer of a lifetime!

He growled at the one who had dragged him away, but his reward was the contents of a glass of spring water thrown at his face.

“There, that should do it,” she said with a pleased smile as Félix shook his head to get rid of the wetness. “You can be glad that you’re not human or I would have to shove a hand full of salt into your mouth now.” He glared at her.

His expression immediately softened into a confused stare though as _something_ seemed to wash off of him. The colours around him dimmed and the urge to go back to the dance floor and find the blonde beauty with the red eyes disappeared.

Félix just stared at the girl in front of him who had two black insectoid arms crossed over her chest while a normal looking pair of arms was busy straightening her red dress and putting down the now empty glass. She also had fragile-looking insect wings on her back and antennae on her head making her look like most humans imagined faeries to look like, just that she was his size and not tiny.

“Creirwy is a collector,” she said, unperturbed by his staring. “Her entire Court consists of fae she has either tricked to join it or who she has indebted so they were forced to work for her. She wants rarities and you are one. Most here know to be wary of her so I take that this is your first time at a revel.” Her blue eyes regarded him expectantly.

“Uh…yes,” Félix replied and internally winced at how pathetic he sounded.

“Thought so,” she said with a shake of her head that made her black hair shift just enough to reveal rounded ear tips.

_What?_

Human but not human?

“I suggest to never go near Creirwy again. She is beautiful even for a fair one, but that’s just how it is with Leanan Sidhe.” The girl shrugged.

 _A Leanan Sidhe._ Félix could have kicked himself. He had not even lasted ten minutes before falling for the charm of a Leanan Sidhe, also called a faerie lover or faerie mistress. They were something like vampires among the fair folk.

“You can go ahead and say ‘thank you’. I won’t be offended,” the girl said with a grin that showed fangs.

“Thank you,” Félix mumbled. He really owed one to her now. Damn it. He hated having debts.

“I take it that this is not your first Samhain revel then? What did you do, get kidnapped and be stupid enough to eat faerie food?”

Félix clapped a hand over his mouth the moment the words left it. Unrooting himself apparently got rid of his filter. While the girl _was_ a little annoying with her bubbly voice and apparently unbreakable good mood, she did not deserve to be insulted like that.

“I’m sor—”

“Don’t bother.” She interrupted him with a wave of her hand and looked at the dancing pairs. No, not the dancing pairs. Her eyes—very focused and serious which stood in stark contrast to her giddy expression—followed the servants that busily walked around, collecting empty glasses or adding even more food to the already overloaded tables. Servants he had not paid any mind to earlier but now he had to force down a wince of pity.

Félix had never seen enthralled humans before and he pretty quickly realised that there was a clear difference between hearing about it and actually witnessing it. They were thin, as if not getting enough food and their eyes were empty, staring into space instead of focusing on what was around them, blissful smiles on their faces—no doubt dreaming about something wonderful while their bodies were trapped in this nightmare. They did what they were asked to do, without questioning those orders.

“You’re naïve, Cat Sidhe,” the girl said with a humourless grin. “You think you know every horrible thing the Court has to offer but in reality, you have barely scratched the surface.”

She took his hand and pulled him away from the tables and away from the dancers.

“Let me show you something,” she said and suddenly their surroundings changed, becoming even more like a forest. Moonlight shone down on a clearing whose ground was covered in a carpet of moss and bluebells. At first it seemed to be peaceful, until a horrible human scream pierced the night, followed by pearly laughs.

The girl led him onto the clearing, not letting go of his hand.

“Where are we?” He demanded.

“Another part of the _sídhe_. This is where the fair folk comes to have fun.”

Even though her expression didn’t let on to it, he could clearly feel that she was uncomfortable. The feeling was mutual. He did not know what had caused this unfortunate human to scream that way, but the girl dragged him forwards relentlessly.

A deer that wore torn clothes jumped in front of them, its eyes wide with fear. It was followed by a pack of barking dogs—the kind that looked bred for hunts with white fur and red ears—and a horde of fair folk. They laughed whenever a dog managed to bite it and then let it get away again. Félix felt the blood drain from his face. The scream from before…

“Humans are not meant to shapeshift. It’s unbearably painful for them to be changed into an animal form rapidly. The folk see it as a party game to transform a human into a deer or hare and let them be chased by their dogs. They continue that until the transformed human is torn to shreds or forgets that they ever were human to begin with, becoming nothing but a mindless beast,” the girl explained and gave a twitch of her wings which Félix only now realised were covered in a ladybug-like shell. Had she gone through transformations like that too and spoke from experience? He was too scared to ask.

They passed by a tree that carried golden apples. The fruit had a heavenly scent that tempted him to pick one up from the ground and eat it. The ladybug girl slapped his hand.

“Don’t eat them. I did not bring you here so you could join in the fun. _Watch_ instead _._ And tell me what you see.”

He blinked at her for a few moments, surprised at her boldness but then decided to humour her.

“I see a tree with golden apples on a meadow with bluebells and…”

His voice left him.

There, on the other side of a giant root of said tree, crouched a creature that devoured the fruits like its life depended on it. It looked grotesque, like someone had tried to cross a human with an insect, a goat and a bear. He looked away and spotted a group of fair ones nearby, watching the creature with amused grins on their faces while holding a crying girl.

“Denise!” She sobbed and tried to tear herself away to get to the creature.

“Change my sister back!” She then demanded of the faeries, who laughed in return.

“This is getting boring,” a fair one with goat legs said. “Let’s give her fruit and see what it does to her!”

The rest of the group laughed in agreement and each grabbed a soft, mouldy apple. Even from a distance, Félix could see that they were dripping with sour juice and swarming with worms. They forced said fruit into the girl’s mouth and laughed as she tried to fight it.

Félix looked away, but the ladybug girl forcefully grabbed his face and turned it back to the group.

“Keep watching, now comes the interesting part.”

Therefore, he had no choice but to watch as the girl eventually succumbed to the magic of the fruits and eagerly ate every horrible scrap of it. When she was done, she looked at the faeries and started begging for more. They just laughed and said she had to do something for them first. She eagerly agreed, without knowing what she agreed to.

The ladybug girl let go of his face and Félix did not waste a second to avert his gaze, as the fair ones had just told the girl to strip of her clothes and get on all fours.

“So, you see, those are humans who _got kidnapped and were stupid enough to eat faerie fruit,_ ” the ladybug girl said and threw him a slight glare. Félix didn’t reply, didn’t even wince. He was too horrified by what he had seen to give much of a reaction. How had he ever found it appropriate to _joke_ about something like that?

The noises of the group of fair ones, as they continued to abuse the human girl in the most horrible of ways, followed Félix and the ladybug girl as they walked away.

Félix was about to be sick.

“There is much more to see here. Who knows, you might find joy in some of those games they play with humans. Over there at the river they throw humans in and wait for the Nixies to drown them, making bets on how long each one lasts. We could join the betting. What do you say?” The ladybug girl continued in an almost mocking tone.

“No, thank you,” Félix choked.

Finally, his sadistic companion noticed the state he was in and took pity on him.

“Come on, let’s get you out of here,” she said in a much softer voice.

Suddenly the horrible noises of tortured humans from all around him stopped. Félix opened his eyes again and saw that they were in some sort of garden. When he looked up, he could see a castle of a size so big that no building in the world would be able to match it. It was made of gold, silver, diamonds and the occasional giant tree woven into the structure. The sight was surreal.

It was ironic, really, to have a garden surround something that was basically a garden itself. He just would not question it.

The ladybug girl led him to some rocks and giant crystals, so he could sit down. It took a few deep breaths, closing his eyes and counting from thirty backwards and a repetition of all of it for Félix to calm down again.

“I am truly sorry about what I said to you earlier. I did not mean it. I had not idea that…”

He did not finish the sentence, not yet ready to put what he had just seen into words.

“Your reaction was surprising. You’re not the first halfling I meet and most are more fascinated with the fey ways. It’s rare to see a fair one actively refuse these games. I must admit that you’re the first one I meet that has this strong of a negative reaction to it.”

Félix shrugged. If this had proved anything, then that he knew fairly little about what other fair ones deemed appropriate or _fun_.

“Most get taken tonight. Those for which seven years have passed will get disposed of since the faeries deem them too old and ugly. A lot will die before the night is over or will be sent back to the earthly realm to pine away and others will come.” The girl said and her voice, for the first time, took on a serious tone.

“What about you then?” Félix asked. She smelled neither like a human nor a fair one but like something in between. Not like a halfling that was both, but like someone that was neither.

“Well, the thing with me is that I would not have survived this long if I would just tell any curious kitty cat my life story,” she said with a cheeky grin and a small giggle.

“I did not ask for your life story. I am just curious about _what_ you are. I hope that is not an insensitive thing to ask for.”

The ladybug girl smiled. “It’s a little insensitive, but it’s not like it’s a big secret,” she said. “And since you are in dire need of education when it comes to the fair folk, it might even be beneficial for you to know.

“So, sometimes, when humans get taken, they are not kidnapped. Instead, they go willingly in exchange for a deal they made with the fair folk. They get their name taken and are then bound to be the Courts’ servants and live in _sídhes_ and Tír na nÓg. Humans cannot live among faeries, so as the decades go by, they change to fit their new environment.”

She studied the claws of her insectoid black pair of arms for a moment before continuing.

“The fair folk has little use for them as actual servants, so they use them as an exchange for when they kidnap humans. With the changed bodies, they are better at coping with transformations and even learn to use magic themselves.”

She looked at him with a grin. “You seem like a smart guy. Can you put the pieces together yourself?”

It took Félix a moment, but then the answer suddenly seemed crystal-clear.

“You’re a changeling.”

Her wings buzzed happily. “Yep!” She said with a fanged grin. “You’re lucky, you know?”

Félix snorted at the irony. “I have not been aware of that. Please enlighten me as to why exactly that would be the case.”

“It’s almost impossible to find someone here that sees a human side of things, but you found _me_.”

“You rather found me, not the other way around.”

The changeling waved a hand dismissively. “Details!”

“Well, I am not naïve enough to trust someone just because of a commonality.”

“Clever cat,” she said, which led them to spend a few moments in blissful silence. A silence Félix used to contemplate what he had just learned and everything he had done since entering the _sídhe_.

He had been arrogant enough to believe that if he just unrooted himself and held a few conversations, that he would be able to blend in naturally. He had even believed to be some sort of spy, finding out what the fair folk would do next, to do what? Prevent it? The changeling was right; he _was_ naïve!

He had even let his morals drift far enough from what they previously were that he had momentarily forgotten the value of mortal life and the horrors of faerie games. Was this what Adrien had seen? Had this been why he had lashed out at him and told him to stay away? Félix felt like such an idiot. He should have listened to his brother.

“So,” she eventually said and looked at him curiously. “Cat Sidhe are shapeshifters. How come you did not attend in your cat form? That way no one could have asked you to dance and it would have been easier to avoid conversations.”

Félix hummed thoughtfully. She had a point. “I suppose I just did not think that far ahead.”

“Can you show me then? I’m curious how you look like as a kitty!” She said and bounced excitedly on the rock next to him. There was only one answer to give to that.

“Absolutely not!”

“Why not? You really don’t have to be embarrassed in front of _me_ , you know? After all, _I’m_ the one with the four arms and the ladybug wings!”

As if to underline her point, she unfolded said wings and wiggled the claws of her additional appendages.

“I am not embarrassed. It is simply not safe to be that vulnerable around people who can potentially cause me harm.”

“It’s Samhain though. If I would just _look_ at you the wrong way you could curse me without even lifting a paw. And I know a changeling’s word doesn’t count much, but I promise not to harm you, alright?”

Félix stared at her with narrowed eyes, unconvinced.

“I mean, I could just bring you back to the ballroom and then see how you cope with being asked to dance again,” she said with a teasing grin.

He narrowed his eyes further.

“Fine. But I will not hesitate to curse you if you do something shady,” Félix growled and stood up.

“Where are you going?”

“I am not going to shift _in front of you_!” He hissed and felt his cheeks warming. How was simply _talking_ about it embarrassing already?! Truth be told, shifting in front of other people was like changing clothes in front of them. It was just awkward. His brother was the exception.

Thus, he ducked behind a nearby bush so he could shift in peace.

_Just what am I doing? I can’t trust her!_

Then again, he couldn’t really risk to be sent to the ballroom of horrors again, or worse: to that place where the fair folk played their torturous games with humans! Humouring her for the moment probably was his best bet, even though he would have to stay extremely alert.

His cat form gave him immediate relief, making the world look clearer to his eyes and letting his senses work better. He was less human like this, which in his situation was an advantage.

“Are you happy now?” He asked grumpily as he jumped back on the rock he had previously sat on.

“Oh, by Danu, you are so fluffy!” She squealed and Félix swatted a clawed paw at her with a hiss when she tried to pet him.

“No touching!” He snarled.

“Come on, don’t be a grumpy cat!”

He growled at her, his tail angrily lashing behind him. “This is an invasion of privacy.”

“You are no fun,” she said, a pout on her face.

“Yes, I get told that quite frequently.”

Suddenly he heard a noise nearby. It was not the snap of a twig, a rustling of leaves or even something obvious like footsteps. No, the noise was much subtler: A startled intake of breath.

His eyes narrowed as they made contact with terrified grey ones that belonged to a girl. She stood frozen between some trees a few metres away, as she had apparently been in the process of sneaking past. That she looked at him with an expression of fear bothered him immensely for some reason.

Her hair was blonde, but it was not the golden blonde that was common for the fair folk. Hers was rather a dirty dark blonde, almost brown, a hair colour no fair one had. Even though said hair hid her ears it was obvious enough that she was human; Félix didn’t need to see her rounded ear tips to know that.

“So, you finally noticed her too. She’s been sneaking around here for a few minutes already. I hoped you’d pick up on that once you shifted and you didn’t disappoint, kitty.”

Félix hissed when she patted his head and then quickly withdrew her arm with a giggle. How embarrassing. He really should have paid more attention to his surroundings.

The changeling suddenly jumped up. “Please don’t run away!”

A look in the direction of the trees told him that the human girl was trying to flee. At least she did not seem to be enthralled. Had she somehow escaped the folk or had they just forgotten about her? In any case, she was incredibly lucky to have only run into him and the changeling and not some other fair one.

With a sigh, Félix jumped back down from the rock and decided to follow them. He was aware that this whole situation practically _screamed_ ‘trouble’, but sitting around alone in his cat form in an unfamiliar place did not seem very safe either.

“Shh, calm down,” the changeling tried to soothe the girl who had become frozen with fear again the moment she had been grabbed by a clawed, black arm and a normal one. “I’m not going to hurt you, I promise!”

“Please let me go, I just want to be gone from here,” the blonde girl whispered hoarsely.

The changeling hummed. “An understandable wish. What is your name?”

Félix narrowed his eyes suspiciously. No fair one asked that question with good intentions in mind.

“M-Meghan.”

Apparently that human girl was an idiot.

“What are you planning to do with her?” He asked, not trusting the situation. The changeling turned around to him with an arched eyebrow.

“You really don’t know anything, do you? Humans can only leave a _sídhe_ when they still know their name. If she would be a changeling candidate who had her name taken, I would not be able to do anything for her.”

Félix blinked as that information sunk in. Did that mean that she really could not remember her own name at all? No wonder she had been so pissed at him for his offhand comment earlier. She was a prisoner just as much as the enthralled humans with the empty smiles were. She still had her wits, but that did not mean that her fate was any better than theirs.

“How are you lucid?” Félix then asked Meghan in return.

The girl shivered. “T-they d-did horrible things t-to me. I can’t…not anymore. They—”

“Hey, it’s okay,” the changeling soothed her. “You managed to flee from them when you had an opportunity and that is very brave of you. There is a way to get out of here, but you will have to hurry since you will have to make it before sunrise.”

She then turned to Félix who flattened his ears since this was starting to sound like mission impossible.

“You will help, won’t you?”

“I’d prefer not to,” he admitted. He would not just risk his life for some random girl he did not know.

“What if she was a human you cared for?”

“But she is _not_. No offense.”

“Cat Sidhe,” the changeling said and her voice took on a threatening tone. “You surely remember that you owe me a favour for when I saved you from that Leanan Sidhe?”

Félix cursed. This was exactly why he hated having debts with the fair folk.

“I invoke this favour now, which is helping this girl get through the forest.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” he growled.

_How do I get myself into these situations?!_

A faerie debt could not just be ignored when it was invoked, which meant that Félix had no other choice but to follow the changeling and Meghan into the forest. He only then noticed that Meghan seemed to be in an exceptionally bad shame; thin and weak from whatever she had been put through. Dread settled in his stomach as a _what if_ scenario came to mind again and he hastily forced himself to think of something else.

 _Don’t think of Marinette while you’re in a_ sídhe _!_

After only a few minutes, Félix would have had no choice but to follow them anyway, or he would have gotten terribly lost. The changeling seemed to know the way though and lead them through the forest full of curious sights.

For the most part he ignored the weird trees, the glowing stones and flowers and the occasional pair of eyes that watched them from the shadows. Especially the latter set his nerves on edge. Who had seen them? Would they even care? He was a cat now, so would they even recognize him?

Questions he had no answers to, so he got rid of them. All he was left with were simple thoughts like ‘jump over that dead tree’ or ‘don’t walk through the thorns’ which was at least occupying. All the while the question of where they were heading and if that exit would lead him out of the _sídhe_ as well circled in the back of his mind. Would Mélusine even be able to find him when he was outside of the _sídhe_?

“Is it still far?” Meghan eventually asked breathlessly as she stumbled over tree roots which she could not see in the dark.

It was the right question, asked at the wrong time because a voice that was definitely not the changeling answered.

“ _W_ h _o_ i _s_ v _i_ s _i_ t _i_ n _g_ m _y_ b _o_ g _i_ n _t_ h _i_ s _f_ i _n_ e _n_ i _g_ h _t_?”

The question was purred by a twisted voice that made Félix’s fur stand on end and alarm bells go off inside his head. Splashing water was heard as he watched something huge and black emerge from a nearby pond and then wade closer to them on muddy ground.

The changeling swore and grabbed Meghan’s arm to drag her forwards. The girl screamed but then started running too, Félix following close behind them.

“We’re too close to the other realm!” He heard the changeling say, not minding to keep the volume of her voice low anymore.

“What does that mean?” Meghan asked, panic coating her voice as she glanced to the sides in panic as will-o'-the-wisps appeared one by one.

“It means that we are almost out of the _sídhe_ but still close enough to it to encounter fair folk.”

A keening wail suddenly erupted behind them. It was the most horrible sound Félix has ever heard.

“It also means that this is as far as I can take you,” the changeling said with a cringe and stopped. The sudden halt threw Meghan out of balance so that she almost fell down.

“Get her out of here, Cat Sidhe,” the changeling said with a serious expression. “I’m sure we’ll see each other again someday.”

Félix did not like this situation at all and he would really rather do anything else. He still nodded and then took off with a ‘follow me!’.

Unfortunately, it took him half a minute to remember that humans could not see in the dark.

To his great horror, he saw Meghan running towards the only thing she _could_ see: the will-o'-the-wisps.

“Not that way!” Félix yelled, but Meghan had been gripped by blind panic at this point.

As he ran after Meghan, he felt how the flames of the will-o'-the-wisps around him went out one by one. It was a weird thing to feel the fear of the dead in his bones, but he ignored it in favour of catching up to Meghan.

“Go back!” He yelled.

She did not react.

“ _Meghan_ , go back!”

The blonde still did not react.

Her feet made splashing noises on the ground that grew muddier by the second as she blindly followed the will-o'-the-wisps. Panic settled in his stomach like a dead weight that made it hard to take a step.

“Turn around! Don’t follow the wisps!” He yelled again, to no avail because the horrible wailing rose again.

His heart beat faster, the fur on his neck stood on end. He had to save Meghan, but right now it seemed wiser to just turn around and seek shelter. His instincts practically screamed at him to go back to the changeling, far away from the keening wail.

Felix turned around.

Also not a good idea.

For behind him the forest was cast in shadow, so that almost nothing was visible anymore. The air seemed to be full of tension, like with a thunderstorm shortly before it began.

He felt sick and dizzy, everything at once, while the temperate around him dropped to the freezing point in a matter of seconds.

Like hypnotised, Félix started into the shifting darkness. He was not certain why this wall of blackness made him panic so much, but he _was_ certain of _one_ thing: He absolutely could not let it catch up to him.

At last he snapped out of his frozen state and ran into the opposite direction, after Meghan. His claws dug into the soil with each step and his tail lashed wildly behind him.

Faeries were dangerous and the world seemed determined to explicitly remind him of that.

He had not been aware what real, genuine fear was like, not even when Adrien had gone missing on Midsummer.

Now he knew.

It was a chill that creeped through him, making him feel like his blood had been replaced with ice-cold water. It was hearing his thundering heart in his ears and practically nothing else. It was the dreadful anticipation of being caught any second.

The shadow took away his orientation, swallowing all scents and noises of the forest. All that was left was the keening wail and the smell of decay, both of which would guide him to his demise.

“O _h_ , t _h_ e _r_ e _y_ o _u_ a _r_ e,” a voice said nearby and Félix could feel the blood drain from his face. It sounded like the changeling but in a contorted way that made his fur stand on end.

It wasn’t her.

 _Trickery! Illusion!_ His instincts yelled.

“Oh, thank goodness!” Meghan said, seemingly not noticing the changes.

“C _o_ m _e_ t _h_ i _s_ w _a_ y _!_ I _f_ o _u_ n _d_ a _h_ o _r_ s _e_ t _h_ a _t_ c _a_ n _c_ a _r_ r _y_ y _o_ u _o_ u _t_ o _f_ _t_ h _e_ f _o_ r _e_ s _t_ q _u_ i _c_ k _l_ y.”

Bog. Wailing. Horse.

The pieces fell into place in his mind.

_Shapeshifter! Kelpie!_

Félix heard how Meghan followed the voice and he waded through the cold mud to follow. Everything smelled like decay and death, which made it hard for him to pinpoint where exactly she was.

As he finally saw something white emerge from behind a tree, a horrible fear gripped him. All his instincts told him to flee while simultaneously spitting out choppy pieces of information.

_Unseelie! Ambush predator! Dangerous!_

He still could do nothing but stare at the pearly white horse with kelp in its dripping mane as it stepped closer to where Meghan stood.

_Doesn’t want you! Greedy! Flee!_

“Oh, aren’t you beautiful?” He heard Meghan say, absolutely enchanted by the equine’s beauty.

“Don’t touch it!” Félix yelled and tried to leap forward though his paws had a hard time lifting out of the mud. The blonde turned around to him, hesitating. Unfortunately, that also got the kelpie’s attention.

She eventually shook her head.

“You’re one of _them_ , I don’t trust you,” she said and the horse gave him a much too wide smile behind Meghan’s back, as if the skin at the side of its head had split. A grin that morphed back into the expression of a witless horse as soon as the human girl turned towards it again.

_Tricked! Bad! Save her!_

Even though he knew that he had already lost, the kelpie’s aura having whispered false truths to the girl, he lurched forward. If he could just get there in time, he might be able to tear her away. He might be able to save her.

The mud sucked at his paws with every step, reducing his progress to a nightmarish crawl. Each squelch felt like a clock ticking away inside his head, counting down the seconds until...

...Until Meghan reached out to pet the horse, obviously not expecting her hand to get stuck fast to its hide.

She tugged at it to no avail and her panicked gaze met Félix’s.

Too late.

He could not save her now.

Unable to run away fast enough he had no choice but to witness the horrid spectacle in front of him as the white coat of the horse melted away and became black. Its jaws, opening wider than possible for a horse, were lined with rows of sharp teeth.

Its chuckle was even worse a noise than the wailing from earlier had been.

“T _h_ a _n_ k _y_ o _u_ f _o_ r _n_ o _t_ l _i_ s _t_ e _n_ i _n_ g _t_ o _t_ h _e_ k _i_ t _t_ e _n_. Y _o_ u _w_ i _l_ l _b_ e _a_ s _p_ l _e_ n _d_ i _d_ m _e_ a _l_ , l _i_ t _t_ l _e_ m _e_ a _t_ l _i_ n _g_.”

The creature met Félix’s gaze again with silver eyes full of mockery and mischievous joy.

“Y _o_ u _c_ a _n_ h _a_ v _e_ h _e_ r _l_ i _v_ e _r_ a _n_ d _h_ e _r_ s _o_ u _l_ w _h_ e _n_ I’ _m_ d _o_ n _e_.”

“No, no no no no _no!_ Please let me go!” Meghan tried to beg helplessly, tears running down her pale face, but the fair folk did not know mercy.

Without hesitation, the black horse jumped into the deep water of the bog, dragging Meghan with it.

The panicked look of horror and desperation she threw him was the last thing he saw of her before she was pulled below the surface and the water turned red.

The silence that followed was eerie and horrible. Now that the kelpie was gone, having taken its magic with it, he could catch Meghan’s scent again. Like further mockery of his failed attempt to save her, the stench of her fear soaked the area, making him choke.

 _“You didn’t save me,”_ a voice said in his head and it scared him to death.

Meghan’s voice.

Against his better judgement he looked up and saw a small blue light dance above the water’s surface.

A will-o'-the-wisp.

The soul of a dead person.

One that did not run away from him.

_“I am dead because of you.”_

_Oh no,_ he thought as a no longer dormant instinct inside him made his teeth ache with the need to taste death. It almost overwhelmed the guilt that threatened to fill his entire being.

_My fault. It’s all my fault._

The fear he had smelled and the desperation, they were emotions he now felt himself. Yet, there was something alien about them, like they were not his.

They were hers. He felt what Meghan’s soul felt and he wanted it to stop.

_“It hurts. It hurts so much.”_

_It hurts._

She suddenly drifted up to his face, making him turn away, but she darted back into his vision. Not letting him escape the sight and smell of her.

_“I wanted to see my little sister again. What will she do without me?”_

_Stop talking,_ Félix thought as she made him feel her sorrow.

For the first time in his life he felt his eyes tear up. They were not his tears, but hers. A Cat Sidhe could not cry.

_“I did not want to die.”_

_Stop. Talking._

Félix’s resolve was slipping slowly but steadily. He could feel how appalled his instincts were for making him feel human emotions while he was still unrooted.

 _Make her pay! Devour her!_ They screamed and became harder to ignore by the second.

He did not want to feel her emotions, did not want to hear her thoughts. He did not want to hear her blame him. A righteous blame.

 _No, don’t!_ Félix told himself desperately.

He had never thought much about being a soul eater, thinking that he would never come in a situation where he would eat a soul in the first place. He had been naive enough to think that he could just resist it as easily as he could resist hissing at people.

How foolish of him.

The urge to eat her soul was as tempting as the songs of Tír na nÓg were on Midsummer. He had to resist even when it made his jaws ache with how hard he pressed them together.

There was no telling what would happen if he would eat a soul after all. What would happen to him? What would happen to her?

He tried to turn away and run, but the will-o'-the-wisp followed his movements again, this time only inches away from his face. She would not let him escape this hell.

_“End it, Cat Sidhe.”_

_No._

If he would do this, would he be able to call himself a human anymore? Not that he had ever confidently been able to call himself one, but he had sometimes just forgotten what he really was, if only for a few minutes or even hours. Would he lose this when he went this far?

_“End my suffering. I know you can.”_

_No, I can’t._

It would be going too far, wouldn’t it? Oh god, what would Adrien think? What would he say?

_“If you devour my soul, this pain will stop.”_

_I can’t…_

He would just have to live with the knowledge of having doomed a single soul to eternal suffering. Even though he could have done something.

_“Do me this last favour.”_

He did not want to hear her anymore and she did not want to let him go. She would probably torment him forever with her pain.

_I shouldn’t._

_“It is your fault that I have to suffer.”_

He wanted her to be silent more than anything else. She was asking for it, so he would do her a favour, right? He would release her from all the pain and desperation she felt. Pain and desperation he did not want to feel anymore.

_No one needs to know, right?_

He wanted it to end so badly. He wanted to feel his own emotions again and be able to run away from this place of death.

 _Devour her!_ His instincts told him.

 

And so he did.

It took him what felt like hours until he realised that he could not find the changeling anywhere.

“ _Mélusine,_ ” he eventually called in a pathetically weak voice, begging that she would be able to come out here into the forest and find him.

He was apparently still close enough to the _sídhe_ for the name-summoning to work. The halfling immediately descended upon him.

“Oh kitten, what happened to you?” She picked him up and for once he did not protest. He was a shivering, dirty mess with no idea where to go.

“I want to go home,” he managed to whimper and then fell silent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...no regrets!  >:3
> 
> PS: I hope you liked Bridgette because she shall return eventually! ;3
> 
> PSS: I kind of drew something ;w; http://fav.me/dcyof0v


	20. Holly Jolly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holly is a nasty _ouch_ for the kittens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, this is what I call part one of the Christmas trilogy :'D  
> I originally wanted to put all of them into one chapter, but that would have gotten too long and I didn't want to upload another 13k chapter if I could prevent it. So I split it up into 3 parts. You're welcome :3  
> Thanks a lot [Draxynnic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draxynnic) for beta-reading this! You're a lifesaver!

Adrien poked at the last yellow leaves that were left on a cherry tree and watched them sail down to the ground. Usually it would have been a very satisfying thing to do, but his heart was not in it this time. It was merely a mindless activity he indulged in while thinking. A way to pass time that prevented him from sitting on a cold park bench.

He regarded the now barren tree with a frown and then leaned against its trunk. The overcast night sky, its clouds bright from the lights of the city below them, did not give him any answers. Neither did the whispers that added themselves to the usual city noise. Whispers from invisible creatures that he wanted to neither see nor hear.

Félix didn’t know he was out here. Or maybe he did and was just mindful enough not to follow him. Maybe he even went outside himself to go elsewhere in Paris. To be alone and do some thinking of his own. Contemplations about what to do or some reflecting of what has been done.

Nothing was right since Samhain. Actually, no. Nothing was right since they had gotten that _smelted_ invitation to that cursed revel. Since Félix had decided that becoming more like _them_ would be in any way helpful.

Adrien kicked a pebble and it landed in a puddle with a _plop_.

When Félix had returned home that day, it had already been evening and Adrien had been worried sick. It had taken all his willpower to not ditch Marinette and run to Mélusine’s to demand where his brother was. Félix had barely spoken when he returned. Instead he had stayed in his cat form and had cuddled up in Adrien’s lap while trembling like an aspen leaf.

Wrong.

Everything had been wrong.

Adrien had petted his brother the whole night, sang him songs their mother had always sang to them and eventually had just silently cuddled him.

It had been two weeks and Félix still had not spoken about what had happened on Samhain. Whenever the topic came up, he got a haunted look in his eyes and then swiftly changed the topic. Only the question whether it had something to do with Marinette had been answered with a ‘no’. That was a relief at least.

Marinette was completely safe, he had made sure of that. She had several protections in her room that would keep the fair folk at bay. Not many enough to draw unwanted attention, but still enough.

His best friend was safe, but what about his brother? He had visited Mélusine about it, but she also did not know details. All Adrien had gotten out of her was that she had found Félix in his cat form in a forest, coated in mud and scared witless. Obviously, the fair folk has been involved, so who knows what had happened?

“These cookies are amazing!” Adrien gushed and eagerly took a second one when the plate was offered to him.

“Glad to hear it,” Tom said with a grin. “It’s the first batch of the season.”

“Will there be more?” Adrien asked eagerly once he had swallowed, the heavenly sweet taste of almonds and currant jam still lingering in his mouth.

“Most definitely, they’re some of our top sellers during Christmas.”

A _ding_ was heard from the oven and Tom ventured over to take out some freshly baked bread.

“I will make a batch of coffee flavoured cookies later, so you can take some home with you for Félix,” he said while expertly placing the bread on the side to cool down and putting in another waiting baking tray.

“I’m sure he’ll appreciate it,” Adrien said and tried his hardest to make the grin on his face seem genuine.

It had been two weeks since Samhain and Félix had barely spoken. He rather preferred to immerse himself in a book and be unresponsive for hours. Said books were noticeably non-fictional and non-fey but had everything to do with their current classes. Something was definitely wrong when his brother threw himself into studying.

“Take the plate upstairs so you have something to snack on,” Tom said and pointed at the plate with Christmas cookies that Adrien had set back down on the counter.

“Thank you,” he said and couldn’t help to have a shudder run down his spine. Adrien had thanked Félix for something this morning and his brother had looked at him as if he had lost his mind. Like a fae that had been offended for being thanked even for such a small thing like handing him the sugar at the breakfast table. It was eerie and the memory of it still ghosted in his mind.

The few weeks Félix had spent with ungrounding himself had changed him and Adrien hated it.

“Good afternoon, Mar!” He said cheerily as he entered the apartment. Marinette sat at the kitchen table with a scarf around her neck and a steaming mug in her hands. It smelled like mint and Adrien had to smother the urge to gag. Probably tea.

“Hi Adrien,” Marinette replied with a raspy voice. “Sorry, I caught a cold.”

He blinked. As weird as it was, he had never been around a sick person before. The fair folk didn’t get sick and for some reason both his father and Nathalie didn’t either, not even such a small thing as a cold.

“Why are you apologizing for it?” He asked hesitantly as he closed the door behind him. Was it a thing one did? Were illnesses something to apologize for? That seemed ridiculous.

“I don’t want to infect you,” she said and smiled at him apologetically.

Oh, _that’s_ what it was then.

“Don’t worry, I’m immune.”

“Adrien, _no one_ is immune to a cold.”

“We’ll see.”

He threw her a grin and then placed the plate of Christmas cookies he had already forgotten the name of, on the table in front of her.

“Tom said to bring those upstairs so we have something to snack on.”

Marinette grimaced. “Too bad I won’t be able to taste them.”

“That’s okay. I’ll just eat them for you,” he said. It earned him a playful shove.

“Don’t you dare.”

“And what if I do dare?”

“I might tell Papa to not give you any more fresh cookies this week?”

Adrien gasped in mocked outrage.

“You wouldn’t!”

“Wanna bet on that?”

Marinette’s challenging grin was infectious as they fell into their usual banter.

Spending the afternoon with Marinette, playing video games and just goofing around made him almost forget about his problems. Hell, it almost made him forget that he wasn’t actually human. Catching a break was nice, but of course reality didn’t let itself be silenced forever.

“So how is Félix doing?”

That innocent question brought him back to the ground zero he had just managed to escape from. It was a question he did not know how to answer.

“He’s…going through something right now.”

“Is it something bad?” Marinette asked and put down her sewing needle. She had just worked on mending one of Adrien’s favourite cat pun shirts which he had accidentally torn a small hole into with his claws. He had explained to her that it must have caught on something and ripped.

Another day, another lie. The more lies he told her, the worse he felt. Only the fact that it kept her safe prevented him from accidentally telling the truth. It did not prevent him from feeling like he was the scum of the earth though.

“I don’t know. Fé went somewhere on Sa–…on Halloween and when he came back, he was very freaked out. He doesn’t talk about it and just buries himself in his books. I’m doing all I can but I think I just need to be patient. He’ll tell me eventually.”

“What if he doesn’t?” Marinette asked, worry clearly etched into her face. He couldn’t help but give her a weak smile. Seeing someone else but himself worry this much about Félix felt good. His brother was too alone…

“We’re twins. There is nothing we don’t know about each other, so he definitely will tell me. I just don’t know when that will be.”

While what he said was true, Adrien could not help but also listen to a small voice at the back of his head that told him that things were different now. Yes, Félix had always told Adrien of his worries, but that had been before everything started to go so very wrong. Before he started becoming less human and more fae.

The world constantly changed, but Adrien had never thought his brother’s trust would too.

Midwinter was approaching and Adrien could taste it in the air, as it became more drenched with magic each passing day. It also meant that the anniversary of their mother’s disappearance inched closer—something he did not want to be reminded of.

Therefore, he jumped on every opportunity for distraction. One such opportunity was to go Christmas tree shopping with Marinette and Nino. It had taken surprisingly little convincing to get Félix to join them as well.

Perhaps he wanted to get out of the house for once too, or just wanted to see Marinette after one month of avoiding her. His excuses had started to get quite ridiculous, but at least the two were still texting. Adrien would hate to have whatever happened on Samhain get in the way of their friendship.

He had not needed to worry.

When Félix and he arrived at the bakery, his brother was enthusiastically welcomed by Marinette with a smothering hug which he returned in kind. He seemed to have missed her more than he had let on to.

“It’s so good to see you again!” Marinette said with a gleeful grin.

“Likewise,” Félix said and—no, Adrien was not hallucinating—smiled. His brother _smiled_. Not the small raise of the corners of his mouth, or a teasing grin, but a genuine, wide smile. With how off he had been in the past two months Adrien had almost forgotten what this smile looked like.

A small inner voice hissed at him to be jealous, that Marinette was _his_ , but he pointedly ignored it. Listening to his fae side or cat side never helped after all and he should be allowed to feel glad to see his brother happy. Screw that traitor of an inner voice!

 

They left the bakery after Nino arrived, accompanied by Tom who joyfully whistled a Christmas tune. Adrien fell into a discussion with Nino about whether or not Christmas songs sounded better in their original versions or as remixes. Meanwhile he watched Félix out of the corner of his eye, noticing every slight grimace or flinch he did when he heard or smelled something unpleasant.

With it being the beginning of December, there were lots of things Félix and he—but especially Félix— were sensitive about. Be it the shrill cry of one of the small Santa figures some shops had in their display windows, or the real risk of being touched by holly at some point.

Especially the latter was something to be avoided, because touching one of the red berries felt like getting bit by a spider. It also took about an hour for the annoying pain to dissipate. Very unpleasant.

Adrien knew that black cats were not known to be lucky and especially Cat Sidhe were bad omens, but Félix seemed determined to take that to a new level. After barely three blocks, he had already bumped into something or someone with holly at least five times. Each of it unfortunate enough to not be a coincidence. Bad luck like their namesake, but _where_ had it come from?

_What have you done?_

“Hello Albert,” Marinette suddenly said and Adrien looked up from his discussion whether dubstep was appropriate for Christmas songs or not, to see who she was greeting.

“Oh, if it isn’t my favourite customer! How are you doing, Marinette?”

Albert, as it turned out, was an elderly man that owned a flower shop a few blocks down from the bakery. The very same flower shop where Marinette had bought the majority of her balcony plants.

“Great! Today I’m here for the trees!” Marinette declared and there was a fiery expression in her eyes. Adrien knew that expression. She usually wore it right before she demolished him in a video game. He had no clue why said expression applied to Christmas tree shopping though. Was it perhaps more challenging than he thought?

Albert winked at her knowingly. “Just what I wanted to hear.

“Claire, keep an eye on the shop, will ya? I’ll be at the tree sale for a while!” He hollered into the shop where a middle-aged blonde woman gave him a nod and then continued to pick out flowers for a bouquet.

“The trees are over there,” Albert said and ushered the group of five a little bit down the street. There, the space in front of an empty store and parts _of_ the empty store were used to display an array of conifers of all sizes and kinds.

As they walked, Albert draped an arm over Nino’s shoulders and pulled him into a side-hug.

 “Nino! It’s been a while, my boy! How have you been?”

“Good,” Nino replied with a grin and a voice that implied familiarity.

“Buying a tree this year?”

“No, sir.”

“Ah, one day I’ll convince ya yet. You’ll see!” The old man laughed and then turned to Tom.

“A nougat cake if it’s one of the first five.”

“I bet it’ll be at least seven.”

“You’re on! And I’ll pay for that cake if it isn’t, so better start planning one already!” Albert laughed.

Adrien followed the conversation with fascination and a lot of confusion. They all seemed to know the man beyond just a passing acquaintanceship, yet none of them had ever mentioned him before.

“We go here every year to buy our tree,” Marinette explained as if she had read his thoughts.

“Albert and Papa always make bets how many trees I’ll look at before finding the one we end up buying. When Albert wins, Papa makes him a cake for free, and if _Papa_ wins, we’ll get a discount on the tree.”

“An odd deal,” Félix said.

Marinette shrugged. “They’ve done it since I was little.”

Adrien jumped when a new voice suddenly joined their conversation

“I’ve never seen you two before. Are you friends of Marinette?” Albert asked.

Adrien pulled the beanie a little lower down his face just in case.

“Uhm…yes,” he said, taken off-guard. The last thing they needed was a newspaper headline that read “Agreste twins spotted while Christmas tree shopping!” Their father would _kill_ them. Or worse: get out the bell collar! A definite _nope!_

“Are you looking for a tree too?” Albert asked enthusiastically and draped an arm around Adrien’s shoulders just as he had done with Nino before. He smelled like cigars, wood and old people.

Adrien was very glad that he had been the victim and not Félix since his brother did not take kindly to strangers touching him without his consent.

“We…uhm…maybe? We’re just here to help Mar,” he said.

For some reason, that made Albert laugh.

“Oh, you don’t _know_ yet, do you? No one is fit to _help_ her when she’s at it with picking the perfect Christmas tree! She has an eye for detail unlike anyone I’ve ever met and the longer she considers a tree, the higher a price I can sell it for.”

Adrien blinked. No wonder Marinette was looking at the trees like a fun new challenge.

“Well, since father insists on a plastic tree this year, if he buys one at all, we might as well have a look around,” Félix said which made Adrien whirl around to him.

“What?! Since when don’t we get a Christmas tree? When was that decided?!”

“I asked Nathalie before we…departed.”

He meant before they had snuck out of their bathroom window.

“Don’t worry boys, I’ve got plenty of trees here to choose from. I might even make you a special offer for the tree Marinette will rate as second-best.”

Albert winked conspiratorially.

The idea of an own Christmas tree in their room didn’t sound so bad. They would be able to decorate it as they liked and it would let their room smell pleasantly like a pine forest. No way in hell would Adrien tolerate a chemically-smelling fake tree.

“I mean, we _do_ have some cash with us,” he thought out loud. Nino snorted.

“And when you say _some_ cash, you mean…”

He looked at Adrien expectedly.

“Not that much, just two hundred,” Félix answered. Nino choked.

“Dudes, you desperately need to learn the value of money.”

“Wait, that’s a lot?” Adrien asked. One could _barely_ buy a video game console with that money!

Albert barked out a laugh.

“Where did you find those two, Marinette?”

To Adrien’s relief the old man also withdrew his arm from him.

“In the park,” Marinette replied without hesitation and grinned.

“It even was plant-related,” she winked at Adrien which lead him to bury his face further in his scarf.

“Stop bringing that up, _please!_ ”

She held true to her word of never letting him live down his shame.

“Nope,” she said, popping the ‘p’ and stuck out her tongue at him.

He playfully swatted at her and she dodged with a giggle.

“Alright, oh great chooser of Christmas trees, tell me the secrets of finding the right one,” Adrien said as they walked through the rows of trees that stood on wooden blocks. The first few they came across were relatively small and they just got bigger in size the further they ventured. Marinette didn’t even spare the small ones a glance.

“Depends on what you’re looking for. Our tree goes into the corner next to the television, so it has to fit in there somehow. Papa and I don’t like tiny trees, so I’ll have to find one that is big, full but also not too wide.”

Adrien had no idea that there were these many criteria for choosing a Christmas tree.

“I mean, our room is pretty empty, so I guess Félix and I could buy any tree here,” he said and tried scratching the back of his neck but was stopped by his scarf.

“I vote against a tiny one as well. It would look pathetic,” Félix stated.

“How about one of these red ones then?” Adrien asked teasingly as he spotted a bunch of trees that had been spray-painted to be another colour but green. Félix glared at him.

“Seriously though, I can’t believe there are people buying those,” Nino said as he regarded the colourful trees.

“Different people have different tastes, let’s not judge them,” Marinette shrugged.

“You’re just saying that because you wanted a pink Christmas tree when you were six.”

Marinette swatted at Nino. “Don’t tell them that! I have a reputation to uphold!”

Félix snorted. “For some reason I have no problem believing that.”

“I am older and wiser now!” Marinette insisted and then turned her attention back to the very naturally green trees they stood in the midst of.

She suddenly pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes while looking at a specific one. It was the same expression she got when she looked at a design and tried to discern what was wrong with it.

Adrien, for his part, did not see anything wrong with the tree she was currently scrutinizing. It looked big enough and also did not seem to be too wide.

After at most half a minute though, Marinette looked away and shook her head.

“Not that one,” she said and moved on to the next tree.

“What was wrong with it?” Adrien asked.

“Too few branches in the middle. It makes it look barren.”

“Yes, I noticed that too,” Félix agreed.

And so, the hunt for the perfect Christmas tree continued. Adrien quickly found out why Albert had said that the trees Marinette singled out could get their price raised, since she only looked at the best of the best. All of them looked perfect to his eyes, but there was still always something wrong. One was not straight enough, another was too uneven, another had multiple tips and so on.

Meanwhile Albert trotted behind them like an excited puppy and put colourful bands on the trees Marinette took a look at.

What was probably most amusing and not at all surprising was Félix to join Marinette in her nitpicking. He pointed out crooked branches, compared the heights of trees and even had something to say about how the needles were grown.

In short: Marinette and Félix combined made Albert lose his bet by about twenty trees, but also made him very happy because he had more trees he could consider raising the price for.

It also meant that the tree that was at last rated as the second-best tree was exactly the one Adrien and Félix ended up buying. They politely refused any refunds and even gave Albert a tip.

There was only one thing they had not thought of in advance: how to get the tree home.

“Well, it doesn’t _look_ that heavy,” Adrien said as he pondered the netted tree on the ground.

“I’m not sure a regular human teenager is able to carry one of those. We’re not supposed to draw any attention to ourselves, remember?” Félix hissed so quietly that only Adrien could hear him.

“What, do you suggest that we _drag_ it all the way home?”

“Everything okay?” Marinette asked as she stepped out of the tent the others had all disappeared into to drink some mulled wine and hot chocolate respectively. Adrien and Félix had stayed outside due to the holly and mistletoe that was strewn about on the table as _decoration_. The risk of accidentally touching either of those was just too high.

“We were just discussing how to get the tree home. Inconspicuously,” Félix said, adding the last word for emphasis.

“Oh, I can carry it if you want,” Marinette said.

“But…isn’t it too heavy for you?” Adrien asked. He did not want Marinette to hurt herself because of him.

“Hold my cocoa for a sec,” she said and shoved her mug into Félix’s gloved hands.

Adrien then watched as small, frail-looking Marinette lifted up a tree that was almost twice her size.

“Ok, I admit that it _is_ heavy,” she wheezed and let it drop back to the ground. “But it should be alight if Nino and I carry it. I’m sure you two will be able to get it the rest of the way home afterwards.”

Adrien blanched. He had totally forgotten that they would have to march through their front door with a Christmas tree.

“Nathalie will be _thrilled_ ,” Félix deadpanned, apparently having had a similar thought.

Nathalie was not at all impressed when the twins returned home that evening with a netted Christmas tree. At one point, Adrien even saw her looking to the ceiling, seemingly praying for patience. He was _a little_ sorry, but if it would be this or a _plastic_ tree, then he would just have to deal with the guilt of causing his father’s assistant some trouble. Especially since she now had to go on a shopping trip to find a Christmas tree stand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next three chapters are already written and edited, so I have good news: There will be regular uploads this month!  
> I will stick to a Sunday schedule for Spellbound and a Thursday schedule for Clockwork Harmony and that will last until I run out of pre-written chapters! :3


	21. Midwinter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> half a year since chapter one!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is 20 words short of 3k and therefore one of my shorter chapters, but I still like it a lot because poor Félix is finally starting to make progress with his healing! ;A; The poor kitten deserves good things!  
> Oh, and Chloé appears. :D First time writing her and I have to admit it is a little difficult. On the one hand, I don't want to fall prey to clichés and on the other hand, I still need to stay in character for her. It's a difficult balancing act.
> 
> And yes, it is intentional that Midwinter, which is on December 21st, is the 21st chapter of Spellbound. >:3c

If karma was a thing, then it was out for one Adrien Agreste.

“And then she gave some pathetic excuses as to why it could not be delivered on the very same day. Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!”

Chloé’s demands of seeing him had become more frequent and more insistent in the previous two months so that they had started to sound like threats. It was not like Adrien _hated_ to visit his childhood friend, but it was like seeing a person and not recognizing them. Just like Félix had been not like himself before Samhain. He was getting better, but something of this _otherness_ still lingered on him like a smudge that didn’t want to go away. It was scary.

His mind still saw the Chloé that had played _Seelie and Unseelie_ with him when they were kids. It was a Chloé that had shared her toys with him and brushed his fur. A Chloé that had even gotten along with Félix.

His eyes saw another Chloé now and he couldn’t help but feel like he had lost a friend.

“Humans can’t use portals or faerie paths as shortcuts to deliver things, so it usually takes a while,” Adrien tried to reason, hoping in vain that Chloé would recognize common sense when it was relayed to her carefully. She flinched as if she had been stung though and threw him a slight glare.

“Don’t use _that_ word,” she hissed.

Adrien blinked. “That’s how it’s called though. I didn’t name it,” he defended himself. Not that it would bring much, since Chloé just huffed.

“Then humans should invent those shortcuts! Their incompetence knows no bounds as it seems.”

Adrien sighed as Chloé stormed off, probably to redo her makeup or brush her already perfectly untangled hair.

Sabrina, who sat on one of the armchairs and worked on what he guessed was Chloé’s homework, flinched as a door loudly slammed shut. Adrien just flattened his ears slightly.

This was exactly how he had imagined his visit to go. Instead of asking how he had been in the last few months, Chloé had fired complaint after complaint at him about all sorts of things. Never a complaint about him personally though. At least her common sense reached as far as knowing that insulting another fae was a horrible idea, even if you were the daughter of the Court chief.

Adrien hesitantly turned his gaze to Sabrina who immediately looked away and pretended to read something in the maths book she held.

“You can yell at me, you know?” Adrien said, his tail nervously lashing and his fingers fiddling with the hem of his shirt. His claws pierced it but he did not care. It was one of the designer shirts his father had given him to wear and therefore wasn’t something important.

“W-what?” Sabrina asked and looked at him like a deer in headlights. He gave her a guilty smile.

“I know you’re still mad. At least I would be if I were you.”

Sabrina bit her lip and looked in the direction Chloé had disappeared into.

“I’m not mad at you, Adrien. It’s been years now and we were kids back then. You didn’t know any better.”

“That doesn’t change things.”

“You were not the one that took my skin, so you’re not to blame. You even tried to get it back.”

Adrien didn’t know what to say. He did not deserve forgiveness for telling Chloé a secret he should not have told her. It was his fault that Sabrina’s skin had been stolen and she was now enslaved to Chloé. A small reminder of how cruel the Court could be, even when you were just a child.

He should have known better.

His mother had told him the stories of selkies getting their skins stolen by humans and then having to obey them and become their wives. Back then, his mind probably had not realized that this was not limited to forcing a selkie to be one’s wife and especially not limited to _just_ humans. Real fae couldn’t steal from one another but _halflings_ could.

Chloé was such a halfling and she had stolen Sabrina’s skin to prove something to her mother, so that she would finally be held in high regards.

Audrey had not much left for her half-mortal child though and most often acted like Chloé didn’t exist. Well, except for the times where a halfling came in useful.

Adrien regretted that Sabrina had been caught in this crossfire. Sabrina, who, even without the seal skin, still smelled like the sea.

“I will get it back…eventually,” Adrien said.

Making Sabrina lose her selkie skin was his biggest regret and he would do anything to fix his mistake. For her to lose her skin was like not being able to shift would be to him. Torturous.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

Before Adrien could argue and tell her he was being serious, Chloé re-entered the room with all the subtlety of a marching band and the natural grace of a fair one.

“Adrikins! You are going to spend Midwinter here, won’t you?”

Adrien could do nothing but stare at her in disbelief as she let herself fall down on the sofa next to him and began to file her nails.

“Chloé.”

His voice sounded strangled all of a sudden. He coughed and tried again.

“You know what happened last year on Midwinter.”

“What? That you didn’t come as well? Do you want to make it a tradition to leave me alone on one of the most horrible days of the year?!” She shrieked, her sharp teeth visible through her snarl. Adrien was neither impressed nor intimidated. His own fangs were much sharper and his irritation at her ignorance gave him some of the cool indifference Félix usually wore.

“Mother disappeared last Midwinter,” he hissed coldly and was happy to note that Chloé flinched.

“But it’s much safer here!” She said in a desperate try to still win his favour.

“No place but a _sídhe_ is safe on Midwinter or Midsummer and even that is relative. You know that. We have iron shutters around the house and they help at least a little. Félix and I will be fine, but…we’d rather be alone.”

Chloé huffed and looked away. “Ridiculous,” she said and turned her nose up in the air. “If you don’t want to spend time with me, then you can leave.”

Adrien frowned.

“Chloé—”

“I said _leave!_ ” She hissed and threw him a venomous glare. This was not the Chloé he had become friends with all these years ago. What he was looking at was a self-righteous fae who was convinced that every favour of the world was hers to demand.

He stood up and walked over to the glass door that led to the balcony. With his hand resting on the handle and without turning around, he spoke again.

“Congratulations Chloé, you did it,” Adrien turned around to look at her but he shouldn’t have bothered because she gone back to studying her nails.

“You became a true Unseelie.”

“Flattery won’t get you anywhere, Adrikins,” she replied but at that point he had already stepped outside into the cold winter air and shifted. There was only one place for him to go now and the mansion was not it.

 

 

“We could enchant him so that he would leave the house during Midwinter and return when it’s over. At least then we won’t have to put up with his idiocy,” Félix said with a dangerous grin. It was the kind of dangerous only a mixture of madness and mischievousness could create. A faerie grin that showed too many teeth stretching wide on his brother’s face.

Adrien wanted to slap that grin off of him.

“Maybe we could try to talk to him first?” Adrien suggested. He’d prefer it if they would _not_ enchant their father, especially since they were not that good with magic yet. One tiny mistake and they would accidentally drive him mad or worse. No, experimenting with magic was out of the question.

Félix huffed. “As if he would agree to any suggestion we give him.”

“It’s been a year today since mother disappeared. Maybe he just needed time to understand what happened?”

“Unlikely.”

“Doesn’t hurt to try,” Adrien said and slowly walked towards their door.

“What about Marinette?”

Adrien stopped mid-motion, his hand lingering above the door handle.

“What about her?” He asked slowly, but no matter how much he tried to keep any emotion out of his voice, the fur that stood on end and his lashing tail betrayed him.

“Don’t play dumb with me, Adrien. I know what you’re trying to do.”

With a few steps Félix had reached him and forcefully turned him around.

“You know she would help but you _still_ want to keep me away from her!”

Adrien was taken-aback by his brother’s snarl. Yes, he was wary of Félix ever since Samhain, but at least the situation with Marinette seemed to be under control again.

“Félix, do you remember what you said when I returned on Midsummer?”

“Yes, you _returned_! Which means it is safe with her and—”

“ _What_ did you _say_?!” Adrien interrupted him and was surprised at himself as he raised his voice to do so. He _never_ raised his voice.

“I told you to not scare me like that again,” Félix snarled and his expression seemed downright feral. Did the approaching Midwinter bring out the fae side that he had tried so hard to bury in the last two months? Was it bringing out something similar in Adrien too? He was scared to look into a mirror.

“You asked me if I had _lost my mind_!” Adrien said. “And that with good reason, because what happened after Midsummer? Marinette could suddenly hear the fair folk! And that was just me being close to her, without any magical artefacts, charms, wards and the like. What do you think would happen if _both of us_ would spend the entirety of Midwinter close to her _with_ all that stuff?!

“As soon as she can see…”

Adrien looked at Félix expectantly, waiting for him to finish the sentence.

“She cannot forget again,” his brother said and looked away. Adrien used that opportunity to hug him.

“I get that you’re scared. I’m scared too, but we cannot risk Marinette’s safety just because you don’t want to put up with father’s stubbornness. You got through Midsummer all by yourself last time and this time I _promise_ to not go anywhere.”

He ended the hug and gave his brother a forcefully giddy smile.

“We could build a blanket fort and watch Christmas movies in it the entire night! How does that sound? And we could steal that giant chocolate Santa father got as a Christmas present from this one fabric supplier and see how much we can eat of it until we get sick,” he giggled. “See? We have distractions. It’ll be fine.”

Félix still did not look at him.

“You know how I went to see Chloé last week?” Adrien said to change the subject. A topic change that drew a snarl out of his brother. He took that as a ‘yes’.

“I almost didn’t recognize her. I know that she has been changing for a while but now she’s just so much different to how she was before that it’s…scary.”

Adrien forcefully turned Félix’s face so that he would look at him.

“I’m worried that the same thing will happen to you.”

Whatever snappy retort Félix had probably prepared died on his tongue at that. Instead he just opened his mouth as if he was about to say something and closed it again.

“Think about it, Fé: Since when am _I_ the reasonable one of us two? Since when do _I_ have to keep _you_ from doing stupid stuff? Since when am _I_ the one who thinks…less like a faerie?”

Adrien could see how the last word sent a shiver down his brother’s spine and made the fur on his tail stand on end. A reaction he would not have given back in summer. Sure, they did not like to be called _faeries_ , but they did not mind it as much as the true fair folk did. As much as Chloé did.

“I know this is not just you, but also because Midwinter is approaching, but please, by Danu, _get a grip!_ ”

With these words Adrien stormed out of the room.

 

 

“Have I really become this bad?” Félix asked. His voice was strained, like he was about to start sobbing. It was the closest thing they could come to crying.

“It’s okay, you can still go back. You have me and you have Marinette, too. Everything will be fine,” Adrien said as the two of them were huddled together in their badly-constructed blanket fort and watched a Christmas movie marathon on Adrien’s laptop.

The St. John’s wort was itchy like always and the dried apples were an uncomfortable presence, but it was generally bearable. It wasn’t as nice as it had been on Midsummer or Samhain where Adrien had cuddled up to Marinette and she had petted him, but it was still nice in its own way.

Despite spending so much time with Marinette in the past half year—it was half a year on the day now that he knew her—Adrien still loved to spend time with his brother and just comfortably hang out with him. It was different than hanging out with a friend or any other family member. After all, Félix was not just his brother, he was his _twin_ brother, his other half. It felt good to be there for each other.

“What if I can’t go back?” Félix asked and Adrien felt that his brother started shivering. He snuggled closer to him with a comforting purr.

“Fé, if there is one person in the world who could do it, then it’d be you. You’re smart and ridiculously stubborn. It’s just a matter of staying grounded for long enough and getting used to it.”

“But what if I really can’t go back? What if it’s like a scar that will never disappear?”

“Then we’ll deal with it and prevent it from getting worse,” Adrien said and momentarily snapped his head to the side, his ears twitching, as he heard the tail end of a wonderful song. He quickly shook his head.

_Ignore it. The songs are not important; Félix is!_

His brother gave him a humourless smile.

“You’re ridiculously rational lately.”

Adrien shrugged.

“One of us has to be.”

This earned him a playful shove.

“Shut up.”

Adrien snorted. “For real though, Fé. You were the one that tried to jump out the window this time and you only didn’t because I hit you atop the head with the St. John’s wort bouquet.”

“May I point out that you have become unnecessarily violent?” Félix said but his small grin betrayed the joke.

“You deserved it.”

As if his body was just reminded of the previous assault, Félix sneezed.

“It’s funny how our roles are reversed this time. I’m just glad I could stop you from getting outside. Midwinter must be bad with the cold wind and the frozen roofs on top of everything.”

“I don’t see any fun in it,” Félix said dryly.

“You’re right. It’s hell,” Adrien replied soberly. “But at least we’re in it together this time, right?”

“As it should be,” Félix said and snuggled closer to Adrien, a quiet purr rumbling in his chest. They then watched thirty more minutes of ‘Home Alone’, laughing at all the accidents and traps, before Adrien started talking again.

“Do you think mother is happy where she is?”

It was the first time either of them had spoken about it that day. So far it had been like a silent pact to not talk about the anniversary of their mother’s disappearance, but Adrien just couldn’t pretend like nothing had to be talked about anymore.

“Maybe,” Félix said, his eyes not betraying any emotion.

“It doesn’t help wondering about it anyway,” he continued. “She won’t come back any time soon. And when she does, it will be like only a week or so has passed for her.”

“I miss her,” Adrien said.

Félix wrapped his arms around Adrien and buried his head in his neck.

“I miss her too,” he whispered, as if the world wasn’t allowed to hear. As if the world was not meant to see Félix show any weakness. It was only for Adrien to see and hear. He hugged his brother back.

“You’re fluffy like her, you know?”

Félix snorted. “Don’t call me _fluffy_ just because you’re a shorthair.”

“There’s no one but me who dares to call you _fluffy_ anyway, so where’s the harm?” Adrien grinned. He withdrew from the hug when Félix stayed quiet for too long.

“Fé?”

“You’re not…the only one. On Samhain a changeling called me fluffy. She was very rude about it,” his brother sniffed but Adrien clearly saw a faint blush on his cheeks.

_Interesting._

It was also the first time Félix talked about Samhain out of his own volition.

“Aww, Fé, why didn’t you tell me you found a girlfriend?”

Teasing _had to_ be allowed. This was a precious opportunity after all!

“She is hardly even an acquaintance. Especially after what she has gotten me into.”

Félix’s eyes suddenly took on the dullness they usually had when the topic of Samhain came up. Adrien shifted nervously.

“Do you want to talk about it?” It was worth a try. Tongues were looser on Midwinter and minds freer.

“…”

“Fé?”

He sighed heavily. “I might as well.”

And that was how Adrien learned about the horrors his brother had carried around with himself all on his own for the past two months. No wonder he had changed…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...am I the only one who suddenly wants to draw the scene where Adrien stopped Félix from running outside by hitting him with a bouquet atop the head? :'D
> 
> Next chapter will be around 8k words long, so look forward to that! I couldn't make it shorter to save my life! ;A; (but it's Christmas fluff, so I guess there won't be much to complain about ;D)


	22. Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> what the title says ;D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember back in December when I had delusions about finishing the Christmas chapter in time for Christmas? Yeah, those were odd times! :'D  
> THREE MONTHS LATER you finally get to see it. Oh, and _let me tell you_ , this chapter didn't want to behave _at all_! I had so many problems, starting with just keeping it below 10k (I managed to make it 8k in the end. Not ideal, but can't help it) and then about who gets which present. [RoseGardenTwilight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseGardenTwilight/) can vouch that I basically had a flow chart of the presents alone (or at least a very extravagant list). It was also thanks to her that I did not mention every single present and therefore saved myself 2k or so words! :'D Only the important stuff! ;)

Marinette sat at her desk and knitted a scarf while half-watching a Christmas movie Adrien had recommended to her. He and Félix had pulled an all-nighter two days ago and practically watched every Christmas movie in existence. When she had asked why they’d done it, Adrien had just replied with a 'why not?’ and left it at that. That, and a winking emoji.

But that had been this morning. Now it was the evening of the 23rd and, like every year, Marinette was giddy for Christmas. Just this scarf needed to be finished and signed, then she’d be done!

The wool for it was one she had found in a shop Mel had recommended to her. It—the wool, not the shop—went through several shades of green, which made the finished scarf look like a summer meadow. If it wouldn’t be a gift, she would have kept it for herself, but Félix needed a cheer up more than she needed a new scarf.

He had been off since his birthday and judging from Adrien’s fidgeting behaviour whenever the topic of his brother was brought up, he was worried about it too. He definitely knew more about it than Marinette did, but she remembered what Mel told her and tried not to meddle. No matter how much she liked to help, sometimes she just had to accept that there were some things that just were not her business.

The only way in which she could help without being too forward was through Christmas presents and so she gave it her all. The only real purchase she had made was the wool and a lot of photo paper. But since those were just materials, the gifts still counted as self-made. Only the Rubik’s cube she had customized to be like a sudoku puzzle made a slight exception. It was an old one of hers which she had never used and after seeing one with a sudoku pattern on the internet she had thought it to be funny to paint it. Said cube was already wrapped in Christmas paper with the name ‘Félix’ written on it.

She had also made a photo album with the best photos they had taken during summer and in the last few months. That was a gift for both twins equally.

For Adrien specifically, she had knitted a hat with cat ears, enjoying the running joke of the black cat theme and hoped he would like it.

A scarf and a hat were both pieces of clothing, but those would at least be excusable if they looked off. She had told herself that exact same sentence like a mantra while knitting them so that she would not chicken out last minute and make something else instead. She wanted to become a fashion designer for Pete’s sake, so she would have to start _somewhere!_

Additionally to that, she had of course knitted ugly Christmas sweaters for both of them. She only dared to do that because it was kind of the point that they looked unstylish. That way she at least would not have to live in shame when the twins looked like they were modelling potato sacks. Then again, they would probably still find a way to make _even that_ look good.

As she put the finishing touches to the green scarf, she contemplated how to give them the presents. It was one of the things she had not thought about at all, because seeing them—especially Adrien—almost every day had become as natural as going to school was. She had not considered that would not see them around Christmas time.

Marinette had not known how long four days could be until she had to spend them all on her own. But at least she had spent that time wisely with finishing the last gifts that had still needed some work.

After she stitched the last swirl of her signature in a bright green thread, she opened up the messenger app on her phone.

> `**Marinette:** can you come over tomorrow? I have presents! :D`

Marinette wrote into the group chat she had with both twins. The reply was almost immediate.

> `**Adrien:** PRESENTS?! O:`
> 
> `**Félix:** He means “yes”.`

Marinette giggled as she imagined Adrien freaking out and Félix just being his reserved self.

> `**Adrien:** WE HAVE PRESENTS FOR YOU TOO! <3`
> 
> `**Marinette:** you didn’t have to!`
> 
> `**Félix:** Don’t be ridiculous. You more than deserve it.`
> 
> `**Adrien:** What Fé said! Also you got us presents so why shouldn’t we get you some? ;A;`
> 
> `**Marinette:** ok I relent`
> 
> `**Adrien:** GOOD! >:3`
> 
> `**Marinette:** when can you come over? maman and papa will be busy in the bakery until three and then maman will start preparing dinner and I’ll help. can you come before then?`
> 
> `**Adrien:** Sure! And I’m jealous! I want a Christmas dinenr too! T_T`

Marinette blinked. Did that mean that they didn’t get Christmas dinner? Surely, she must have misunderstood him.

> `**Marinette:** you don’t get a christmas dinner???`
> 
> `**Adrien:** no! T__T our personal chef is not here during the holidays!`
> 
> `**Félix:** Additionally, father is absent. An urgent business trip to Milan or something.`
> 
> `**Adrien:** It’s not so bad! We’re living off of canned ravioli right now ;w;`

Marinette stared at her phone screen in disbelief for a full minute.

> `**Marinette:** WHAT THE HELL!!!??? YOU TELL ME THOSE THINGS!!! SINCE WHEN HAS THIS BEEN GOING ON???!!!`
> 
> `**Adrien:** …yesterday`
> 
> `**Félix: Y** esterday morning. There was a note on the dining table, which was quite considerate.`

Marinette could almost _hear_ Félix’s sarcasm.

> `**Marinette:** maman and papa are asleep already but I’ll ask them first thing tomorrow morning if you can stay over for christmas`
> 
> `**Félix:** We would hate to intrude on your family celebration.`
> 
> `**Marinette:** YOU’RE NOT INTRUDING!`
> 
> `**Adrien:** But we’re not part of the family`

Marinette exited the messenger app and decided to call those two idiots instead.

“Don’t think for a second that my parents wouldn’t adopt you both if they could, so don’t give me this ‘we’re not part of the family’ crap!” She said before Adrien could even utter a greeting. There was a short silence on the other end.

“But…isn’t Christmas a sacred family thing?” Adrien asked.

“Yeah, but family is not limited to blood relatives, you know? And your Christmas sounds like it’s going to be shitty, no offence.”

“None taken. It’s true after all,” Félix said from the background. Apparently, she was on speaker phone.

“But what if your parents say no? You have not asked them yet,” Adrien said.

Marinette rolled her eyes.

“Adrien, you have _met_ my parents. When I tell Maman as much as that your Christmas dinner consists of canned ravioli, she will personally come to your house and drag you here. And that doesn’t even include the part where your father just went on a business trip during Christmas without telling you!”

“You do have a point,” Félix said after some contemplation.

“See? And I’m not leaving you alone on Christmas! I’ll ask my parents tomorrow morning, though I doubt that they’ll have anything against it.”

 

As predicted, her parents were as appalled as Marinette had been when she told them of Adrien’s and Félix’s situation. She did not even have to ask if they were allowed to stay over since her parents immediately insisted that the two of them should pack their duffel bags right away.

When Marinette returned from grocery shopping—they needed to accommodate for two additional people after all—Adrien and Félix were already sitting on the sofa in her living room. Both of them held a mug of hot chocolate and they occasionally took something from the plate with chocolates and cookies. Someone—her mother?—had even put on Christmas music in the background.

“Oh, you’re already here,” Marinette said happily surprised as she closed the door with her foot while still holding the shopping basket.

“Mari!”

Adrien jumped up from the sofa so fast that he almost spilled his hot chocolate. Only Félix’s quick reflexes prevented that mess from happening as he snatched the mug out of his brother’s hand.

“I heard that we’ll be six instead of four people, so I bought some more food to feed two poor, starved models,” Marinette said with a grin and gladly gave Adrien the shopping basket when he offered to help.

“Wait, six people? Who else is coming?” Félix asked, clearly uncomfortable.

“My grandma. She should arrive soon, so brace yourselves.”

“What’s your grandma like?” Adrien asked as the two of them went over to the kitchen area to sort the groceries.

“She is…pretty much the opposite of regular grandmas. Instead of sitting in a comfy chair and knitting all day she drives around on her motorcycle and visits all kinds of places. I think she was in Brazil last. We barely see her because she’s traveling all the time, but she always comes home for Christmas!”

“That’s so cool! I can’t wait to meet her! Where does this go?”

“In the fridge. I’m sure you’ll get along great,” Marinette said and then glanced over to Félix. “Just a heads up: She doesn’t think much of personal space.”

“Duly noted. I will keep my distance to compensate for that.”

Marinette smiled but internally debated whether or not she should say something to Félix. In the last few months he had become even more distant than he had already been and even his texts were lacking in any real interest. Her traitorous inner voice would tell her that he did not like her anymore, but Adrien’s story about something unknown happening on Halloween prevented her from drawing that conclusion.

Something most definitely has happened and it afflicted Félix even almost two months afterwards. She should just concentrate on making him feel welcome and comfortable. Him being left alone with Adrien on Christmas probably had not helped the situation.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure she won’t be too overbearing,” Marinette said. She saw Félix let out what she thought to be a sigh of relief.

Suddenly Adrien perked up and looked to the window. Marinette was first wondering what caught his attention but then she also heard the noise of a motorcycle drawing near and eventually stopping right in front of the house.

She hastily sorted the last of the groceries into the fridge and left the rest out on the kitchen counter.

“Speak of the devil,” she said with an excited grin. It has already been a year since she had last seen her Nonna. Getting letters and reading about her journeys just wasn’t the same as being able to listen to her overdramatic retellings of said adventures.

When Marinette was already at the door, she turned around again, motioning to the twins to follow her.

“Come on! I’ll introduce you!”

“If you don’t mind, I’d rather stay here,” Félix said.

Neither his body language nor voice betrayed anything than indifference, but Marinette still had the feeling that he was uncomfortable. In the half year in which she has known him, she learned that Félix took a while to warm up to people and rather preferred to have as few as possible surround him.

Step one of her plan to make Félix feel comfortable: Let him be.

She looked over to Adrien who just shrugged.

“Go on ahead. I’ll stay with Fé.”

Another thing she had learned in the past half year was that the twins never separated unless it was necessary.

Step two: Don’t separate Félix from Adrien.

As she rushed down the stairs to greet her grandma, she thought about how exactly she would be able to make Félix feel right at home while someone he considered a stranger was present. She just needed to find something they could connect over. Maybe her grandma’s stories would interest him! It was worth a shot.

“Marinetta, my little fairy!”

Marinette was immediately smothered in her grandmother’s hug.

“Oh, look at you! You’ve grown so much!” She said and pressed a huge smooch on her cheek.

“I’m so glad you came, Nonna!” Marinette said and hopped giddily in place.

“Have you told her yet?” She asked her parents.

“Not yet. Mama has just been here for a minute after all,” her father said with a laugh.

“Tell me what?”

Instead of a reply, Marinette just took her grandma’s hand.

“Come on! I want to introduce you!”

“Introduce me to who? Since when are there guests on Christmas except me?”

Marinette giggled. “Since now! Their father left on a business trip and I couldn’t just leave them alone on Christmas.”

She gnawed at her lip when she thought about it again. Her grandma was traveling all around the world all year, but for Christmas she always made it a point to come back to Paris and spend the holidays with them. Why would Gabriel Agreste just abandon his own children like that?

“A business trip on Christmas?” Her grandmother seemed appalled. “Tsk, some people don’t know when to lay off work.”

_Apparently…_

“We’re back!” Marinette called when they entered the living room. Adrien leaned at the back of the sofa while Félix sat where she had last seen him.

“Hi?” Adrien said awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck. With all the modelling and public appearances, one really did not expect him to be shy, but Marinette knew that his social awkwardness went a _long_ way. Félix’s too, but he could mask it better than his brother.

Adrien offered her grandmother his hand, his smile growing a little more confident.

“I’m Adrien.”

Her grandma, ever enthusiastic to meet new people, immediately took his hand and shook it.

“And I’m Gina Dupain. My, aren’t you adorable?” She said and patted him on the head. Marinette hoped she wouldn’t do the same with Félix. Said twin sighed quietly and stood up. Her grandma immediately whirled around to him with a smile and took his hand the second he offered it to shake it.

“Félix Agreste,” he said in the polite tone that he usually used to mask his emotions.

Her grandmother repeated her introduction, and—much to especially Félix’s horror—ruffled his hair. Marinette and Adrien cringed in synch and threw each other a slightly panicked glance. This was not off to a good start.

“And you two are related?” Her grandma went on and turned her attention back to Adrien. With that she missed the way Félix desperately tried to fix his hair.

“We’re twins,” Adrien supplied, still a little tense as he threw small, uncertain glances in either Marinette’s or Félix’s direction. Her grandma seemed surprised.

“Twins? But you’re so different!”

“We get that a lot,” Félix mumbled with an eye roll.

“Oh, that reminds me of when I was in India this year! There were these twins that—”

And so, her grandma started to tell one of her many stories. They all sat down on the sofa to listen to her, while Adrien and Marinette both acted as buffers between Gina and Félix. In the time it took to tell the story, both twins visibly relaxed, which Marinette was glad for. She’d hate for there to be tensions between her grandma and them.

Her father briefly came upstairs to tell his mother that he had brought her luggage up into the guest room and that he would have to go back to tend to the bakery then.

As the story finished, Adrien seemed to have a lot of questions, but was abruptly cut off by a question being directed at him instead.

“So, how did you two meet my little fairy?”

Marinette, who sat right next to Adrien, felt him tense. Félix, on the other hand, looked like he had just been personally offended and inconspicuously balled his fists. Had it really been that bad of a question? Sure, Adrien had pretty much made a fool of himself when they had first met and she knew that Félix _hated_ it when someone talked bad about his brother, but this reaction was a little intense.

A glance at Adrien told her that he had gone pale, as if he’d seen a ghost.

“Uhm…your what?” He asked and shifted towards Félix.

“Marinetta!” Gina exclaimed while pointing at Marinette. Her grandma apparently had not noticed how uncomfortable the twins suddenly were.

“Do you go to school together?”

“No, they’re homeschooled. We met in a park by coincidence,” Marinette said since neither Adrien nor Félix seemed to give a coherent answer any time soon.

“Oh, how romantic,” her grandma said with a sly grin.

“It isn’t like that!” Adrien immediately threw in while he blushed probably as furiously as Marinette herself did. At least her cheeks felt like they were on fire. Why did everyone have to draw that conclusion?!

To everyone’s surprise, Félix suddenly snorted.

“Yeah, _romantic._ If looks could kill then Adrien would have died back then.”

“It wasn’t _that_ bad,” Marinette pouted. Had she really _glared_ at Adrien? She couldn’t remember. Maybe she had.

“ _You_ did not have the privilege to watch the entire spectacle from the sidelines. And trust me, I am as determined as you to never let Adrien live it down.”

“I hate you both,” Adrien grumbled and gave Félix a slight shove. At least that seemed to have deterred them from their previous shock. Marinette just hoped that the good mood would stay.

 

Her grandmother insisted to help prepare the food while Marinette was sent upstairs together with Adrien and Félix so they could prepare for the two of them to stay the night. Since the guest room was taken, they would have to get creative. The spare mattress from downstairs was carried to the attic with only slight trouble. Marinette was about to start a search for the air mattress they had from that one time they had gone camping, when Félix claimed that Adrien and he could just share the single mattress.

“One of you is bound to land on the floor, you know,” she said. Adrien just waved her off.

“We’re used to sharing a bed, so it’s fine.”

“If you say so. But don’t complain later when it doesn’t work out after all.”

“It’ll be fine, don’t worry,” Adrien said again and sat down next to his brother on the chaise lounge.

“So, I am curious; how does your family in particular celebrate Christmas?” Félix asked.

“Hmm, we eat dinner together and then we just talk until we go to bed. Tomorrow morning, we’ll open the Christmas presents and then the rest of the day is usually spent doing fun stuff. When I get a video game for example, I usually play it with Papa almost the entire day.”

“That sounds so nice,” Adrien said with a sad grin. “I’m sorry that we don’t have a present for your grandma.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m sure it’s already gift enough for her to have two fresh minds to corrupt.”

“And you are _sure_ we are not intruding?”

“Félix Agreste,” Marinette said and picked up a pillow. “Don’t you dare say that again or you’ll leave me no choice but to use _this_.”

Félix raised his eyebrows.

“A pillow?”

Adrien’s eyes started to sparkle with delight and he also snatched a pillow from the chaise.

“Are you suggesting what I think you are suggesting?” He asked Marinette. She grinned back at him.

“You bet!”

Félix didn’t even have time to dodge as Adrien’s pillow already made an impact with his face.

“Pillow fight!” He yelled and Marinette joined his enthusiasm with a giggle and a pillow to his face. He was quick to retaliate and in turn threw her on the mattress. Even Félix eventually joined in, making it more of a war than a simple fight. One that included tickles and the resulting kicks.

They eventually stopped and just let themselves fall backwards on the mattress, still giggling.

“Being assaulted by pillows is a strange way to make someone feel welcome,” Félix said with a grin on his face.

“Well, you seem stubborn enough to question it, so I have to forcefully hit it into your skull until you remember it.”

“So violent!” Adrien gasped in mock horror. “What happened to our sweet little Mari who made us flower crowns?”

“She’s dead. Killed in the war of pillows,” Marinette said and let her head roll to the side, her tongue rolling out with a “bleh” sound to indicate her demise.

“No! Stay with us Mari!” Adrien pleaded and jokingly shook her for emphasis.

“Kids? Dinner is almost ready!” Her father’s voice suddenly shouted from downstairs.

Marinette’s state of death was instantly forgotten as she jumped up from the mattress.

“Oh shit, it’s that late already?!”

“What’s wrong?” Adrien asked.

“I still wanted to change and do my hair and maybe even wear a little makeup.”

Would she be able to do that in ten minutes? She had not even picked out her outfit with all that had been going on before!

It wasn’t like her family would mind if what she wore wasn’t one hundred percent fashionable, but _she_ would mind. And it was always nice to have an excuse to dress up a little.

“Don’t worry, we’ll help. Adrien might be horrible when it comes to fashion—”

“Hey!” Said fashion disaster threw in.

“But I can give you advice if you’re indecisive.”

“Do we have to dress up too? We didn’t know what was appropriate so we just packed a lot of outfits,” Adrien said sheepishly.

“You don’t _have to_ , but you can if you want?” Marinette said, slowly getting out of her panic and settling on determination instead.

“Ok, I’ll find an outfit to wear and then I’ll change in the bathroom downstairs while you can stay up here and change. Would that be okay?”

She tried very hard not to think about the process of them changing, which, of course, resulted in her not being able to think about anything else.

_Shut up, stupid teenage brain!_

Félix nodded. “And afterwards I can help you with your hair.”

That surprised her. She would have never guessed that Félix was any good as a hairstylist, but she would just accept that fact for now and move on before she’d be too late.

And so, the rush of picking the perfect Christmas outfit began. They all eventually decided on a dark blue dress for her that glittered if the light hit it _just right_ , making it look like the midnight sky. Marinette had not made it herself, but it had been a present for her birthday last year. She was just glad that she had not grown too much since then.

When she had changed and came back up the stairs, she knocked on the trap door.

“Are you two changed?”

The _last_ thing she wanted was to walk in on the two of them while they were still changing. The thought alone made heat rush to her cheeks.

“Yep, the coast is clear!” Adrien replied and opened the trapdoor for her. As she climbed up the last steps, she caught his look of absolute awe.

“You look beautiful.”

The heat that had just dissipated shot back into her cheeks and Adrien didn’t seem much better off as he seemingly noticed what he had said just a moment after. At the same time Marinette realised that she was absolutely not ready to see Adrien in a suit. He looked so good that it should be illegal.

“I mean, that dress looks very pretty on you. It fits your eyes and your hair and—”

“It was a good choice,” Félix cut in, the corner of his mouth twitching up in obvious amusement. He also wore a suit and looked unfairly good in it.

 _Models._ Marinette thought with a weird mixture of jealousy and fondness.

“Sit down and I’ll do your hair,” he said and motioned to the chair in front of her vanity. “Any wishes or suggestions?”

“I’ll just trust your expertise,” she said, unable to even start thinking about what hairstyle could possibly make her look good enough that her being in their presence wouldn’t make her feel incredibly inferior.

“What can I do?” Adrien eagerly asked and drew near.

“Go stand in the corner and look pretty,” Félix said without hesitation. Marinette saw Adrien pout in the mirror, but eventually do like his brother said, sitting down on the chaise lounge.

Meanwhile, Félix undid her bun and started brushing her long hair.

“While you look good with your hair down, I would suggest something else for this dress and also something that won’t get in the way at dinner. May I braid it?”

“S-sure,” Marinette said while she tried very hard not to freak out as Félix’s hands carefully combed through her hair, gathering strands and braiding them into a masterpiece.

“You’re very good at this,” she said as he was halfway through.

“I used to do that for mother a lot,” he said quietly. It was rare that either of the twins talked about their mother, especially since it had now been over a year since she has disappeared. Marinette didn’t know what to say and she couldn’t nod either since Félix had strictly instructed her to hold still.

“It’s been…a while,” he continued and she saw him give a sad smile in the mirror. “It’s actually quite nice to do it again.”

“Well, I volunteer as tribute for future hairstyling sessions then. This looks beautiful so far.”

Was the mirror screwing with the lighting or did Félix just _blush_?

“Thank you,” he said quietly and for some reason, that made Adrien grin like he had just gotten the best present in the world.

 

Before she knew it, Marinette already sat downstairs at the kitchen table. An additional table had been added to it so that everyone had enough room.

The conversation was light and cheerful and even though Félix did not say much, Marinette could see that he was enjoying himself. As did Adrien. He was practically _glowing_ with happiness.

The two of them occasionally flinched when her grandma called her ‘my little fairy’ but apart from that, there were no further incidents.

Speaking of her grandma, Gina Dupain, as predicted, seemed ecstatic to have a fresh audience to tell her stories to. Thus, most of the talk after dinner was done by her as she retold the tale of when she had fought a kangaroo or how she had travelled across the Indonesian islands.

Even though Marinette knew the stories already, they were still exciting to hear. Though she was probably not nearly as excited as Adrien was. He was basically at the edge of his seat the entire time, soaking in her grandma’s stories as if he had never heard anything more exciting.

 

Eventually they all went to bed which brought Marinette to a tiny dilemma: She would sleep in the same room as Adrien and Félix.

Sure, the three of them had stayed at the same house back in summer when they went to the beach, but even then, they had stayed in separate rooms. And yes, she had many sleepovers with Nino before in the past, but Nino was…well… _Nino_! They had known each other since kindergarten and he was basically her brother. They had sleepovers way before it had become _weird_ to have a boy and a girl sleep in the same room together.

With the Agreste twins she did not have that luxury. The three of them knew each other quite well, having spent the majority of the past half year together, but that still didn’t prevent it for being awkward. At least for her.

Adrien seemed over the moon with the entire situation and for Félix it was hard to tell if he thought anything in particular about the sleeping arrangements.

“This is our first sleepover!” Adrien said while excitedly bouncing on the mattress.

All of them had already changed into their pyjamas—Marinette’s own ones were Christmas themed—and were contemplating if they should go to bed already. Well, Adrien seemed as far away from sleep as one could get, so it would probably be a while.

“Congratulations,” Marinette said with a laugh that was only slightly awkward. Only Félix seemed to notice it as he raised an eyebrow in return.

“Do you want to do makeovers now?” She asked in an effort to not let an awkward silence follow.

“Yes!”

…She had been _joking!_

“A good idea. Especially since we missed the opportunity to see you with makeup because of the rush earlier.”

She had not expected _Félix_ of all people to agree with Adrien in that moment.

“Wait, so you two _want_ to wear rainbow eyeshadow and have your hair braided?” She purposefully made it sound as ridiculous as possible.

“Why not? It sounds fun!”

 _That_ had certainly never happened when Nino and her had a sleepover. Marinette had always thought of those things to be part of girl sleepovers only. Something no guy would ever be interested in.

Well, the stereotypes had been wrong!

“You two are such _models,_ ” she said with an eye roll.

“You say that as if it’s a bad thing.”

Adrien seemed genuinely confused.

“Well, I was actually joking. If I would have suggested it to Nino, he would have voluntarily slept on the sofa downstairs to escape the wrath of my makeup kit.”

“What is wrong with makeup?” Adrien asked in all his naïve glory. Félix, who was equally sheltered but apparently more educated on the subject, decided to take pity on him.

“Adrien, boys don’t usually wear makeup.”

“Oh,” said model said and he blushed sheepishly.

“I mean, if you two _really_ want to, we could _try_ to do each other’s makeup? As weird as that sounds,” Marinette said eventually.

“I don’t think it sounds weird,” Adrien mumbled with a pout.

And that’s how the three of them spent the following three hours until midnight doing each other’s hair and makeup. Adrien proved again to be the least artistic of the trio, while Félix had only good things to say about Marinette’s makeup skills. No matter if the end results looked good or comically bad though, the three of them had surprisingly much fun.

“Eyeshadow actually looks good on you,” Marinette said after she had just finished doing Adrien’s makeup _again_. Félix, meanwhile, just snorted since she had purposefully made it look as girly as possible.

“With some hair extensions and the right outfit, you could be mistaken for a girl,” he said, apparently finding the thought hilarious. Adrien though, just got an excited gleam in his eyes. A gleam she had learned meant either trouble or a lot of fun. Sometimes both.

“Oh my gosh, we _have to_ try that! Marinette, can you make me an outfit that makes me look like a girl? I want to see how many people we could fool!”

While the request was quite odd, Marinette still felt herself grinning. She loved a good prank as long as it didn’t hurt anyone.

“I could _try_ , but it would take some time,” she said.

“Design it for summer then! That should give you lots of time and I’ll pay you in advance!”

Oh, he was _serious_ about it. Then again, Adrien Agreste was not known for speaking sarcasm.

“Uh, let’s come back to that another time,” she said, as she seriously needed consider if this was really a good idea. If Adrien was _caught_  running around Paris looking like a girl then they would have to deal with some quite unpleasant and annoying tabloid headlines.

When the makeup was washed off again and hair was unbraided, they eventually settled into their respective beds. Funny enough, the makeover session had worked wonders to loosen Marinette’s nerves so things were not quite as awkward as before anymore.

And there was yet another thing.

“I know the presents should not be opened before tomorrow, but I’ll make an exception for those two here,” Marinette said and produced two wrapped gifts from her loft bed where she had hidden them earlier.

Adrien looked like Christmas had come early…which it actually had. Quite literally.

She handed each twin the respective present and both immediately tore apart the wrapping paper. Adrien let out a gasp as he unfolded the Christmas sweater.

His had ‘meowy catmas’ knitted into it, together with a black cat that wore a Santa hat.

Félix’s sweater on the other hand proclaimed in blue letters ‘frost-tea’ with a snowman drinking tea below it. That image had been quite tricky to knit and she had needed Mel’s professional assistance to accomplish it.

Marinette could not see Félix’s reaction to his sweater though, because she was suddenly tackled—luckily, she had been sitting on the mattress and landed on it—and hugged very tightly by Adrien.

“Thank you! It’s _purr_ fect!”

“You’re welcome,” she said when she was able to breathe again.

She suddenly heard a rumbling sound. At first, she thought that her phone was vibrating on the desk, but then she realised that it was coming from Adrien.

 _Is he…_ purring _?_

“You’re starting to take cat theme quite seriously, KitKat,” she giggled.

Adrien practically _jumped_ away from her, blushing furiously.

“This is very well made, thank you,” Félix chimed in before Adrien could say anything—probably profuse apologies judging by his expression.

“I’m glad you like it,” Marinette said, thankful for this change of topic. Loosened nerves or not, being literally _glomped_ by Adrien was something she did not want to think about in too much detail. A quick glance to the mirror on her vanity told her that she was blushing only marginally less than Adrien did.

_Damn it._

 

When the Christmas breakfast was eaten and everyone was in a jolly mood, the time to open the presents had finally come.

“Merry Christmas everyone!” Her father declared, which was followed by a series of hugs.

A bone-breaking hug from her father, a gentle hug and a kiss from her mother, a normal hug from her Nonna and an uncharacteristically tight hug from Félix. When Adrien enthusiastically hugged her last, the hug lingered a little longer than the others did.

“ _Thank you_ ,” he whispered instead of a ‘Merry Christmas’. He said it with emphasis, just as he had done shortly before leaving on his and Félix’s birthday.

Marinette tightened her hug.

“Merry Christmas Adrien.”

“Now it’s time for the presents!” Her grandma suddenly proclaimed and handed each of her parents and her a wrapped gift.

“I don’t have presents for you two,” she said to Adrien and Félix, sounding incredibly apologetic. “But if you’ll be here again next year, I’ll definitely bring you some!”

Adrien grinned at her. “Thank you! That is very nice,” he said and Félix just gave a small thankful smile. A smile that quickly left his face as her grandma hugged him and Adrien even though Marinette had told her to stop doing that. Fortunately for Félix’s composure, the hug didn’t last long.

“Don’t worry Nonna, I have presents for them,” Marinette said as she worked on getting the ribbon off.

“Well, Christmas is about celebrating with your loved ones anyway, not about the presents. Though some nice gifts never hurt anyone, did they?” Her grandma said with a fond laugh and then directed her attention to Tom, who let out a laugh.

“Where is this one from?” He asked and Marinette did not even have to turn around to know that her father had gotten another teddy bear. It was a running joke ever since Gina had mixed up the presents for her father and her one year, so Marinette had gotten a rolling pin and her father had gotten a teddy bear. They all had found it so funny that they had just not switched the presents back, so Marinette had been the proud owner of a rolling pin she could barely left when she was six years old.

“Toronto,” Gina said just as Marinette finally managed to get through the thorough wrapping of her own present. It was a small sculpture of what looked like a human with an elephant’s head.

“This is from India, my little fairy,” Gina immediately said excitedly. “It’s called a _Ganesh_. The locals said it brings good luck.”

“Thank you Nonna!” Marinette said and was very aware of a curious Adrien who regarded the Indian souvenir as well from over her shoulder.

“Now,” she said and put her Nonna’s present down on the coffee table, “I’m gonna guess you want your presents too?”

It was a rhetorical question since Adrien was practically vibrating from excitement already. She grinned.

“Yes please?” Adrien asked with the most pleading puppy eyes in existence. Marinette would probably never be able to resist them.

 _Oh god, he’s_ too _cute!_

“Alright, this is your pile. Check the names on the presents before opening them and start with the smaller ones,” she said and pointed to a pile of eight wrapped presents.

While Adrien pounced on them, Marinette handed her parents and grandma each a present. For her mother she had bought a DVD box of her favourite show and for her father she had made a lace rolling pin. The latter had been something she had seen on the internet once but wanted to rather make it herself than to just buy it. That had proved to be extremely difficult though. It had taken her over a month and in the end, she had been very glad that she had been able to finish it in time.

For her Nonna, she made a good luck charm, just as she had made some with Adrien back in summer.

All of them loved their presents, especially her father, who promised to try out the lace pin the very next day.

Marinette squeaked when she was suddenly hugged from behind so tightly that she was lifted off the ground.

“Thank you _so_ much, it’s _paw_ sitively _purr_ fect!”

She fondly rolled her eyes.

“Really, you’re living up to the cat theme. Not much more and you’ll turn into a real cat,” she joked which made Adrien chuckle.

“ _Purr_ haps I will. Who knows?” He said and let her go again. Only when she could turn around did she see that he wore the black hat with the cat ears. It fit him even better than she had thought and the cat ears made him look even cuter.

 _Stop it, stupid brain! He’s your friend._ FRIEND _! You’re not allowed to find him cute!_

Marinette quickly looked away which made her gaze fall on Félix who was currently studying the sudoku Rubik’s cube she had made for him. From the twins’ birthday she already knew that Félix was not very expressive when receiving gifts, though that did not mean that he wasn’t thankful. Judging from his slightly interested gaze though, she deducted that he at least liked it to some extent.

“Open this one next,” she said and handed Félix the present that contained the green scarf. She nervously bit her lip as Félix opened the present, quite slowly in her opinion. He was careful to not tear the paper, even though there wasn’t anything special about it—it was red and had ‘Merry Christmas’ printed all over it in white letters.

Adrien meanwhile had sat down on the ground and was curiously leaning his head on Félix’s knees to have a better look. That ended up being a bad idea because as soon as Félix pulled the scarf out, Adrien got a slap on his hand as he had reached out to touch it. Marinette could have sworn to have heard a quiet hiss from Félix, but she must have imagined it. Félix Agreste just did not make uncivilized noises.

“It’s so pretty and soft,” he said and only after he flinched and blushed did she realise that he had not meant to say that out loud. She giggled.

“I’m glad you like it,” she said just as Félix swatted Adrien’s hand away a second time.

“You really made that for me,” Félix said quietly, apparently to himself while stroking his finger carefully over her signature.

“Can I open this one?” Adrien suddenly asked and pointed at the largest of the presents. It had both of their names written on it, so Marinette made room on the sofa next to Félix and patted it. Adrien plopped down between the two of them.

“Félix, look! It’s for both of us,” he said, his excitement almost graspable and wasted no time to tear the wrapping paper away, when also very carefully. He tilted his head when he looked at the cover that had a photo of the three of them, Nino, and her parents on it. They had taken it at the end of summer.

“Is this a photo album?” Adrien asked and suddenly got very excited when Marinette nodded. He turned over the first page and grinned when he saw a leaf—not _the_ leaf, but it was symbolic anyway—glued onto it. Next to it she had written down what the first of his notes had said.

> _Leaves tend to turn to gold, you know? And isn’t gold a beautiful thing? But golden leaves are short-lived and rare in summer, so what if one, once gold and now dead and brown, turned back to its former glory? Imagine something plain and even ugly to some, become beautiful once again._

The rest of the album consisted of all the photos they had taken from that point onward. Small memorials like a ticket to the zoo were also included. Marinette had worked on that photo album since August and had originally wanted to give it to them for their birthday. It had only been halfway full then though, so she had kept working on it. Due to her parents enthusiastically taking pictures of _everything_ , filling up the second half had not been such a hard thing. In the end she had even needed to sort through pictures and only pick the best of the best ones to have enough room. The photo album ended with two empty pages and the heading ‘Christmas’ above it.

Only when they got to these pages did the twins look up.

Now, she had fully expected Adrien to hug her again. What she had absolutely not expected was for _Félix_ to _pounce_ on her and give her said tight hug. To accomplish this, however, he had to basically jump over Adrien who had quickly gotten the photo album to safety.

Being intensively cuddled multiple times by two models each in a timeframe of less than twelve hours was… _something_. Nevermind that said models were two of her best friends, which made the whole situation frustratingly conflicting—especially in regards to Adrien.

In any case, Félix’s sudden _attack_ was surprising and unexpected. Like if Chloé suddenly started giving genuine compliments to people or threw around flowers. Shortly put: It was so beyond the things Marinette had expected to happen that she had not even entertained the thought in her wildest dreams.

And…was Félix purring too? What was it with these boys? Maybe it was a model thing. Or it was just one of the weird habits they had gotten through being home-schooled and therefore not spending much time around other people. Yeah, that must be it.

“Félix, are you okay?” Marinette asked and also Adrien was watching the two of them with slight concern on his face.

“Thank you so much. This is the best gift I have ever gotten,” he said.

Marinette sighed in relief. He was just very happy. She could deal with that…somehow. Well, truth be told, she would probably be able to deal with it better when Félix wouldn’t be draped over her. If Adrien would join this hug now too, she’d be a pancake.

Eventually Félix apparently decided that the pensum of affection he could give had exceeded its critical limit, so he withdrew from his quite dramatic hug with an embarrassed blush. That just gave Adrien an opportunity to hug her instead.

“This really is the best present ever,” he said and sounded so happy that Marinette was glad that she had worked so hard on the photo album for the past half year. Every single hour and papercut had been worth it!

“You’re welcome,” she said, even though it didn’t sound like a strong enough reply to such a deep expression of gratitude.

“This is basically nothing in comparison to your presents, but I got something for you too,” Adrien said as he ended the hug and looked at Marinette shyly. Only then did she notice the red round box with the golden bow he was holding out to her, his expression nervous.

That silly boy. He did not need to get her a gift at all and she was sure that whatever it was would be amazing. That he was still nervous about it was quite adorable.

“Don’t downplay your present before I even opened it,” Marinette said with a fond eye roll and a smile as she opened the red box. In it she found a foam lid that had something written on it that made her sit up straight in shock. She recognized the jewellery label as one of the most prestige and expensive ones she knew. It wasn’t like money was a problem for the twins, but she still couldn’t help but feel a little faint when she thought about what could be in the box.

Deciding to not make Adrien even more nervous than he already was, she eventually took the lid off which revealed a small jewellery bag. It also had the name of the label printed on it in clear black letters on white. It did not seem to be a ring—otherwise she might have screamed—but rather a necklace or bracelet of some sort.

When the opened the bag, the latter fell into the palm of her hand. It was a simple-looking silver chain with seven charms hanging from it. As she gave said charms a closer look, she realised that they must have been hand-picked.

“Do you like it?” Adrien asked meekly and gave her the hopeful puppy eyes again.

“I love it! It’s so pretty!” She hurried to say when she noticed that she had been quiet for too long. “But that must have cost a fortune!”

_Oops._

She probably shouldn’t have said the last part, because Adrien’s happy grin immediately morphed into a guilty smile.

“I’m sorry, I…just wanted it to be something special.”

Oh god, now he was _apologizing_ for being the sweetest person in the world. Taken, without any concept of monetary value, but that wasn’t his fault!

“No, don’t apologize!”

Marinette cringed.

_Way to ruin the moment._

“Why did you pick these charms exactly?” She asked instead. That seemed to get Adrien all excited again and she breathed an internal sigh of relief. Crisis averted.

“The leaf is because you just won’t let that go and it _is_ how we met after all,” he said with an amused grin.

“Then the Eiffel Tower is because we both live in Paris and most of the great things we did also happened here, so it is kind of a summary of summer.

“The Moon with the Stars is from when we went to the sea and looked at the stars and also the evenings when we sat on your balcony.”

Adrien looked at the charm and gave a secretive smile. Maybe it also had another meaning to him than those two, but if it had, then he didn’t tell.

“The Chinese fan is because of your heritage and because it’s red. Since that’s a lucky colour in Chinese I thought you can also could it as a tiny good luck charm.”

When he moved on to the next charm, Marinette saw him blush just slightly.

“This here is a guardian angel. It’s…uhm…because you’re literally saving my life more often than you even realise by just being there for me. I just thought it was fitting.”

Now she was blushing too if her warm cheeks were any indication.

“The crown is because this is the closest charm I could find to being fashion-related. Can you believe it?” He gave a small laugh. “And if you want it can symbolize that you’ll be the queen of fashion one day. Who knows? I might model _your_ designs in the future,” he said with a wink.

This boy was out to _kill_ her, wasn’t he? How could someone so sweet exist?! At least the boost of self confidence his belief in her abilities gave her was nice.

“And what about the black cat?” Marinette asked, pointing at the seventh charm on the bracelet. She suspected it to be part of the black cat running joke, but Adrien just grinned mysteriously.

“That’s a secret,” he just said and then proceeded to put the bracelet around her wrist.

Looking at the charms and recalling all the photos they had just gone through in the photo album, Marinette thought about what had happened in the previous half year. It was a lot. Most of the things had been so odd that she would have declared everyone crazy who’d have told her about them a year ago. Never in her life would she have thought that she, ordinary Marinette Dupain-Cheng, would be lucky enough to meet two such amazing people and befriend them.

Judging by the charms and what they meant to Adrien, the feeling was mutual. She smiled.

Later she would be stunned by her own boldness and excuse it as a spur of the moment decision, but a simple 'thank you' seemed almost laughable in comparison to what this gift meant. Adrien was right, the monetary value of it didn’t matter. It was special, no matter its cost.

She gave him a light kiss on the cheek.

“Thank you, Adrien.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna say this now already so that there won't be confusion later: I am currently writing on chapter 25 and hope to get it finished by the time it's due to go up. When I manage that, I will immediately upload another "chapter" after that, which won't actually be a chapter but rather a synopsis. This is because after a lot of thinking I decided to keep Spellbound as one single story and not splitting it up into three. It'll result in a rather high word count because each arc is about as long as a whole book, but since it's still the same story, it belongs together.  
> The thing is that the synopsis for arc 2 will also mark the beginning of a hiatus since uni will start again in April for me and I don't know how much time I will have to write. I want to have a few chapters written beforehand to hopefully continue with a schedule, so there could be a month or so without an update. Clockwork Harmony will continue to update though! :D


	23. Félix's Lament

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The traumatized kitten's view of things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, I get to show you Félix's perspective! Not gonna lie, I really enjoy writing from his point of view! ;w;  
> I'm gonna repeat what a lot of you guys said on the Samhain chapter: the poor kitten needs therapy ;n;

Félix has thought a lot about shapeshifting in the previous two months. For him, it was something natural. One moment he would look human—at least for the most part—and in the next he would have the body of a cat. Either way, he would always stay Félix. That fact never changed. He was Félix as a human and he was also Félix as a cat.

How was it like to not shift? To be trapped in one form for an entire life and, even worse, to not feel like that form was fitting? Félix has lived half a year without shifting at all and that had been confusing and torturous enough. He had felt stuck in place.

What did the changeling feel about her body? She had not wanted to change it. It had been forced on her. On top of that, she would be changed to look different whenever a human was kidnapped and she had to take their place. How many lives had she lived? How many forms had she taken? And throughout all of that, she did not even know her name.

Yet despite the shocking lack of identity, she had still seemed sure of herself. Somewhere she must have found an anchor to define herself with. He did not know what this definition was, but he could not help but admire her for it.

He thought about her a lot and about the things she had showed him. Seeing all these horrors had helped him to _understand_. Simply hearing about them or reading about them, as it had turned out, was worlds apart from witnessing them. Being forced to watch the gruesomeness of them had shaken him to his core and he needed time to think.

A lot of time.

In that time, Félix saw Adrien grow more worried with each passing day. Even Marinette grew worried despite not knowing what was going on. Luckily both of them knew him well enough to leave him to his thoughts.

At first, Félix tried to forget what happened on Samhain. He pretended to not feel the small dancing flame inside him. Pretending like it did not whisper curses and blame to him. He also pretended to not hear it as the voice slowly grew quieter and eventually disappeared. It was hard to pretend to feel like the diminishing of the flame had not given him more power, more magic, but he managed.

_Ignore it all._

 

When Félix saw Marinette again after over a month of being kept away from her, he could not help but feel endlessly relieved. She was warm, she was alive, she was _safe_. There was no way to describe how thankful he was to not see her in any danger. The nightmares had not been kind to him, putting her in place of the humans from all the horrible things he had witnessed in the _sídhe_.

She needed to stay safe. She needed protection.

What happened to him was of little consequence. He deserved some bad luck for what he had done after all.

It was fair this way.

 

Adrien at first didn’t ask, but from the looks he had thrown at his brother the next day, he knew something must have happened. The topic only vocally came up when they had decorated their newly acquired Christmas tree that evening.

“What did you do?” Adrien asked quite bluntly and for some reason it made Félix flinch.

“Bless her to avoid attention from the fae. What else?”

It was an action that made perfect sense in Félix’s head, yet Adrien reacted like the world was ending.

“YOU DID _WHAT?! WHEN?!_ ”

Félix felt guilty. Of course Adrien would be alarmed about anything that had to do with Marinette and magic, especially since their fight from before Samhain still wasn’t completely resolved. They have gotten over it for the most part since Félix stopped with unrooting himself on purpose, but a certain tenseness, especially regarding Marinette, was still there.

He should have asked first.

“Yesterday evening,” Félix just replied sombrely while internally shrinking into himself. He just couldn’t stop doing the wrong things with the right intentions, could he?

“But she didn’t say anything about…” Adrien trailed off and narrowed his eyes.

“You know, I wondered why I smelled _cat_ on her when I have not visited her as one in days.”

Félix felt his cheeks warm at the accusation. For some reason he had thought it would be a good idea to visit Marinette as a cat, despite never having done so before.

Adrien’s silence after that statement made it even worse. There were some things the two of them knew without having to tell each other. Invisible lines and boundaries they never overstepped. Visiting Marinette as a cat was such a line because it was different than seeing her in their human forms. And it had been Adrien’s privilege to do so.

Until now.

It was not like Marinette belonged to either of them, but cats were possessive creatures and Adrien was _her kitty_. The growl that built in Adrien’s throat was therefore justified. He did not appreciate someone else trying to claim this place, even when it was his own brother.

“I just wanted to help,” Félix said and did the only thing he could: He fled. In his case that meant to walk over to his favourite chair and picking up the book he had previously discarded.  

Adrien should win this fight because it was not worth fighting over. Félix did not want to claim anything or anyone after all. He just wanted everyone to be safe and sound. If he paid for that with his brother being angry at him then so be it.

He couldn’t risk to let the things he saw on Samhain happen to them. He just couldn’t.

Sometimes Félix wished he _could_ cry.

The persistent bass and the sheer volume of the music were an imposition to Félix’s sensitive ears, but he endured both with a scowl. Just like with Samhain, the choice whether to attend or not was not left up to him. If it had been, he would have more than gladly spent New Year’s Eve at Marinette’s place with her parents and her eccentric grandma. While he has been highly suspicious of Gina at first, it had turned out that her worst flaw lay in constantly misusing the word ‘fairy’.

In comparison to what he imagined to be a peaceful affair at Marinette’s at this moment, Félix had landed in an auditory hell.

Chloé had _insisted_ that Adrien and he showed up for her New Year’s Eve party and his brother—curse him—had agreed for both of them. It was beneficial to stay in the good graces of the Court, but this party was destroying Félix’s carefully constructed walls of composure.

When he suddenly felt his phone vibrate in his pocket he went to a secluded alcove to check it, more than glad for the momentary break it gave him.

> `**Marinette:** how is the party?`

The corner of his mouth twitched in Félix’s version of an amused smile. Marinette must be psychic with how good her timing was.

> `**Félix:** Adrien is making a spectacle of himself at karaoke right now.`

And not only Adrien did. Apart from Sabrina, Adrien and him, Chloé had also managed to find other fair folk their age—or at least they _looked_ like teenagers—that mingled in the otherwise human crowd. The trace of magic in the air was obvious and seeing most of the crowd be mesmerized beyond belief was disconcerting to say the least. They stared in awe whenever one of the fae grabbed the mic and sang songs in a way so beautiful it would make the original singer weep with jealousy.

> `**Marinette:** can you film it? I want blackmail material 😊`

Marinette would never stop to amuse him.

> `**Félix:** If only you would have said something thirty seconds ago!`

Which was not true. Adrien was still standing up there on the small stage, singing a popular song Félix did not spontaneously know the name of. As much as he would love to gather embarrassing blackmail material on his brother and send it to Marinette, Adrien _singing_  was not part of that. Not when he made the song sound better than what Félix recalled to have heard on the radio, causing most girls in the room to swoon.

To the folk, singing was as easy as breathing and just as natural. Especially Adrien was often cautious not to sing in front of humans, since it was almost impossible not to charm someone with it. A real shame, because he _loved_ to sing. Félix saw how it pained his brother internally whenever a catchy song came on that Marinette started to hum to or even sing along with. He always wanted to join but couldn’t risk it.

And Félix would not take any risks tonight. Marinette would never see a video of Adrien singing if he could prevent it!

> `**Marinette:** aww ☹️ maybe he’ll send me a video of _you_ singing later 😉`
> 
> `**Félix:** That is highly unlikely, as I will not participate in this madness.`
> 
> `**Marinette:** you’re calling singing madness?`
> 
> `**Félix:** Yes. Very much so.`

Only a glance to the crowd was enough to underline his statement.

_Utter madness._

Taking a closer look was a mistake though. There was a difference between charmed and enthralled humans, but it was slim enough to cause unwelcome images to flash through Félix’s head. Memories of the Samhain revel.

Seeing a crowd, when also a relatively small one, being charmed by his brother of all people—even when Adrien didn’t do it on purpose—was too much for him.

Clutching his phone like a lifeline he left the ballroom that the party was hosted in. A garden would have been an optimal place to escape to, but that was probably the only luxury Le Grand Paris did not have. And so, Félix escaped to what was probably closest to it: the roof.

Fresh air welcomed him, as well as the giggles of a couple that had retreated here to have some privacy. He did not even have to look to sense that one of them was fae and the other charmed. The magic in the air told him that little secret.

Sensing magic and other fae without meaning to was something that had usually just happened at daytime. Preventing other magic from influencing him was something he had only been able to do when he had been on his half of the sky. But the universe was cruel to him even at night ever since Samhain.

_Ever since eating the soul,_ his mind added.

The world supplied information to him without him even asking it to do so. Sometimes he just put a St. John’s wort flower in his hair to silence this ability. To have at least a few hours of peace and quiet and the illusion of being human.

Yeah, right. As if he could even pretend to be one anymore. He did not have the _right_ to call himself human after what he had done. With eating a soul, he had crossed a line he had not been aware existed and there was no going back now.

The couple did not pay him any mind and he was glad for it. Félix walked past them and into a dark corner out of sight. A quick shift and some graceful climbing were all it took for him to get on the roof of the elevator.

Only when Félix sat on the topmost part of the hotel, did he let out a sigh. Not one of relief, but one just for the sake of it. He shifted again and pulled his phone back out of his pocket.

> `**Marinette:** I gotcha. singing in front of people is scary `
> 
> ` are you having fun though?`

_Was_ he having fun? No. He told Marinette as much.

> `**Marinette:** do you want to talk about it?`
> 
> ` you don’t have to if you don’t want to!`

Félix couldn’t help the smile. There was no way he could tell her what was troubling him and there was also no way she could help, even if she knew. But she still wanted to help. A fair one would have asked for something in return. Nothing, especially not a favour, was ever for free. That was what made talking to Marinette a breath of fresh air, because she never expected anything but common decency in return.

> `**Félix:** Chloé is being a pain. To put a long story short: She likes Adrien but hates me. Adrien is being too nice for his own good, so he sticks to Chloé, while I am left to my own devices.`

That was as close as he could get to the truth.

> `**Marinette:** _merde_`

Félix snickered quietly. Marinette saved swearing to special occasions, which usually involved Chloé.

> `**Félix:** Could not have said that better myself.`
> 
> `**Marinette:** how exactly does Chloé treat Adrien?`
> 
> `**Félix:** If I would describe that, you’d just get unnecessarily angry. Neither you nor I can do anything about it, so we should just leave it to Adrien to escape her clutches.`

In reality, Félix wanted to do nothing more than to storm back downstairs and tear Adrien away from the blonde monster. Maybe even tell her to _bite iron_ a few times. But due to his frankly dangerous conversation with Chloé’s mother on Samhain, both Adrien and him walked on thin ice with the Court. And as he had promised himself to take no risks tonight, he would just have to trust in his brother to make the best of it. Even when it itched him to give Chloé a swipe with his claws or to bare his fangs at her. Anything to make her back off basically.

> `**Marinette:** do you have any resolutions for the new year?`

Marinette’s sudden change of topic was very welcome, as it prevented him from actually acting on one of his violent desires. Instead, it made him think.

_New year’s resolutions, huh?_

Well, he would definitely have to get the hang of most of the spells from Mélusine’s book and fully earn his brother’s trust back. Finding a way to walk more safely among fae was also among those things.

> `**Félix:** Helping Adrien more. How about you?`

In the end it boiled down to this. Most of Adrien’s wishes were also Félix’s wishes. The majority of them concerned Marinette’s safety and Félix honestly wanted nothing more than to guarantee it.

> `**Marinette:** wearing my own clothes in public`

Félix was pleasantly surprised by her answer. So far, Marinette had been extremely hesitant to wear any of her own creations outside of the confines of her home. Wearing them to school was something she so far had not dared to do, especially because of Chloé and her destructive ways. It was a big step for Marinette and showed that her self-confidence had grown slightly. If that was due to Adrien’s and his influence or was just a natural progression wasn’t clear, but he liked to think it was the former. It would be nice if they ended up helping her as much as she had helped them.

> `**Félix:** I will hold you to that. Speaking of: Have you decided whether or not you will sew that girly outfit for Adrien? He is still very excited about the idea.`
> 
> `**Marinette:** really? I _could_ design and sew something but I’m not sure if it would be good enough…`
> 
> `**Félix:** Do not downplay your abilities. Take it from someone who dabbles in modelling from time to time and sees haute couture fashion frequently: You’re outstandingly talented for your age. If anyone could design an outfit that would make Adrien look like a girl, then you could.`
> 
> `**Marinette:** thank you Félix! 😊`

In the distance Félix saw a firework explode, the bang of it reaching his ears only a moment later. He rolled his eyes. Some people really could not wait the remaining fifty minutes until midnight, could they?

> `**Félix:** Nothing to thank me for. I am just thinking of the blackmail opportunities this project opens up for me.`

Suddenly his phone vibrated, having received a text from someone else. Since this was the phone that Mélusine got for him back in summer, there was only one other person who could have texted him.

> `**Adrien:** where the hell are you?!`
> 
> `**Félix:** roof`

He decided to leave it at that and enjoy the view of the Parisian skyline at night. At least as far as enjoyment went when unreality eerily danced all around him especially in a night like this. It was a never-ending curse to be able to perceive it ever since the moment he was born. It would do him some good to ignore its presence and find a distraction, just as he did on the solstices and the four Celtic celebrations.

The occasional firework exploded in the sky, basking the rooftops it exploded over in a colourful light temporarily. It wasn’t a lot, but counting them and cataloguing their colours served as good enough of a distraction and gave him something to do while he waited. Red, pink, purple, gold, blue, gold again.

He just saw a green one explode close to the Eiffel tower when the magic around him gave him something he could best describe as a friendly nudge and an air of familiarity. Only moments after, a black cat climbed on his lap and curled up there.

“Too much?” Adrien asked, already guessing what was going on. Félix nodded, not taking his eyes away from the skyline.

“I’m sorry. The singing probably didn’t help, but Chloé begged me to, and it seemed like a good idea at the time and—”

“You don’t have to justify yourself for having fun, you know?” Félix said and absentmindedly scratched his brother behind the ears.

“I have to when you’re suffering from it,” Adrien argued vehemently. In that moment, Félix’s phone gave another _ping_ , which caught his brother’s full attention.

“How is s—”

Félix cut him off by holding his mouth shut.

_Not here_ , he thought and tried to rely said message through his eyes. Adrien seemed to get it, since he hissed, seemingly angry at himself.

They couldn’t let _anything_ slip about Marinette while they were on Chloé’s party of all places. A party that included fae. At least one of the guests would have good enough ears to pick up on their conversation and then it would be game over.

To answer Adrien’s unspoken question though, Félix held the phone so that Adrien could read the conversation. He gave a happy wiggle and a purr when he read that Marinette agreed to sew the outfit for him.

“Blackmail, huh?” He then said with a grin that no cat should ever wear. “Well, joke’s on you, because I will look absolutely fabulous and not regret a thing!”

Adrien tried to strike a model pose, which ended up looking absolutely ridiculous in his cat form. Nevertheless, it did the trick and drew a smile out of Félix.

“What’s your new year’s resolution?” He asked as Adrien climbed out of his lap and shifted to sit beside him. He leaned back on his arms and looked in the cloudless night sky, thinking.

“Going to school would be nice,” Adrien eventually said with a wistful grin. “Meeting new people and making friends has been the best thing that has happened to us this year. I want more of that.”

Félix couldn’t help but agree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heads up: there'll be a time jump in the next chapter! ;D


	24. A Whole Half Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the title says, a half year has passed :3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't panic about the time jump! I just did it because nothing grand happened in that half year and the significant things that _did_ happen are mentioned. This and next chapter are sort of filler chapters to wrap some things up and let the story flow better. Oh, and there's something important that happens in this chapter which I thought needed a chapter of its own since next chapter is out of Marinette's POV and I can only write this out of one of the twins' POV. ;W; No spoilers yet, you'll see what I mean! ;D

“Your chambers are now lit, Princess,” Adrien said, which drew an amused snort out of Marinette.

“You’re having way too much fun with this,” she said.

“Look who’s talking!”

How hypocritical of her to say such a thing while she was working on a new dress for the princess doll that lived in the very house he was working on improving!

“It is fair to say that we are all quite invested in our own way,” Félix added from the chaise lounge where he was reading a book.

 

It was the end of May, which meant that it had been over three months now since Marinette had first babysat Manon and complained about it afterwards. Adrien, who had never really interacted with children before, had practically begged to help her the next time she had to babysit.

When the little _angel_ had not been soothed by anything, Adrien had made the innocent suggestion to play with dolls. One thing had led to another and they had started to not only invent stories for the dolls but to also build them a house. Even Félix had been roped into it, being the person who took notes on the dolls’ adventures so previous events did not become forgotten.

Before any of them had even known it, they had grown quite attached to the whole game, so that they even continued to work on it when Manon wasn’t there. Half of the wall behind the chaise lounge was already will with decorated boxes that had fabric scraps as carpets and wallpapers and all kinds of small furniture. Some of it was crafted while the rest had been bought. It had gotten to the point where Adrien could not walk past miniature objects anymore without buying them for the dollhouse. This was how the princess doll had gotten into the possession of not only a glitter lava lamp, a fake potted plant and a ceiling fan, but also a brand-new lamp that actually worked.

The latter was something Adrien had found online and, under the pretence of practicing physics, ordered for himself. Nathalie had raised an eyebrow at the various wooden dollhouse lamps and copper cables for the circuits, but otherwise did not say a word.

 

A gust of wind made the windows rattle and rain splash against them more vigorously. It was yet another early summer storm, including thunder and lightning. Shortly put: the perfect weather to stay inside and work on the dollhouse.

“You’re quiet today, Princess. Did something happen?” Adrien asked as he set up cables for another lamp—a small chandelier for the party room. The nickname was also something that came from the game of dollhouse, since Marinette played the princess doll. Calling her ‘Princess’ had been an inside joke at first, but then it had stuck. Just as KitKat had apparently stuck for him.

Marinette sighed, but didn’t look up from the small dress on her lap. She absentmindedly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and frowned when it ended sooner than she was used to. Adrien stopped working on the circuit to give her his full attention when he felt a wave of anger wash over her before it settled into resignation. His tail gave an irritated twitch under the glamour.

“I’m okay. It’s just…Chloé,” she said with an annoyed sigh.

Félix growled at the mention of the blonde, though it was quiet enough that Marinette did not hear. Adrien, too, had the wish to do something he would probably regret later.

A little more than a week ago, Chloé had officially taken it too far. Not that Adrien had ever supported her bullying of Marinette in the first place, but by _cutting off a chunk of her hair_ she had crossed a line that made it hard for the Cat Sidhe to not storm into the hotel and return the favour with his claws and teeth instead of scissors.

Félix had voiced even more vicious plans than that. It had been an undertaking to hold him back from making any of them a reality. He had also scared Marinette quite a bit when he had declared in a murderous voice that he was going to kill that _fake princess_ and make her choke on iron. It had been only seconds after Marinette had returned home that day with an obvious chunk of her hair missing and crying her eyes out. She had then told her parents and them what had happened. At least Félix had not been alone with his extreme reaction, because Tom had been equally furious—that had been quite the frightening sight.

Sabine had been the only one who had kept a level head and immediately made an appointment at a hairdresser. The haircut that resulted from this was a nice shoulder-length one. The hair that had previously gone to halfway across her back could not be replaced, but Marinette had stayed brave and taken her new style in stride.

Not without shedding a few more tears, but that was a secret only a certain stray black cat knew of.

“What did she say?” Félix asked, his voice dark as if he was ready to jump up any second and storm to the hotel to make Chloé pay for whatever she did.

“The usual. It was stupid,” Marinette said with a shrug.

“You’re making that sound as if anything she says is clever,” Félix said and rolled his eyes. “What was it this time?”

“Fé, stop being pushy,” Adrien said and then turned back to Marinette who had flinched. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

She visibly relaxed at that suggestion.

“I just have to survive just one more month, then school is out for the summer.”

She raised her head to give both twins a grin. “Hey, now that I think about it, it’s almost been a year since we met. It’s crazy how much has changed since then, right?”

“You can say that again,” Félix said.

“Yeah, now we can just spend two weeks here without anyone suspecting that I’m a creep who gifts leaves to strangers,” Adrien said with a grin and a wink as he returned to installing the chandelier.

“You’re still the weirdo that tried to give me a leaf. You won’t live that down, KitKat.”

“I have come to accept that by now,” Adrien said with a dramatic sigh. “It’s our origin story after all.”

“What am I then? The coffee guy?” Félix asked and Adrien could hear that he had calmed down again.

“Yep,” Marinette said without hesitation, popping the ‘p’. “And I’m offering both you weirdos shelter.”

“And we’re eternally grateful for that, Princess.”

Adrien indicated a bow from where he sat on the floor, which earned him a nudge with Marinette’s foot and a giggle.

“Dork,” she said.

 

As it was customary at this point, Gabriel Agreste had left on a business trip, leaving both Adrien and Félix home alone. Since he was supposed to be gone for two whole weeks—or longer, one never knew with their father—the twins had decided to ask the Dupain-Chengs if they could stay at their place for that time. They had told Nathalie that they would stay at Mélusine’s. Since Nathalie didn’t want to be involved in more fair folk business than she had to and since she was overdue for some vacation time, they had come to a mutual understanding of just not telling Gabriel Agreste any of it once he returned. Just as long as the twins kept to their schedules and didn’t miss any more photoshoots, of course.

The Dupain-Chengs had not hesitated for a second when Adrien and Félix had asked if they were allowed to stay for two weeks. Since Marinette still had school, they had been put in the guest room this time. But even though it wasn’t like their sleepover at Christmas, they still sat together on the weekends for movie nights or had vicious Mario Kart tournaments. Nino often joined them, making things even better! He just didn’t find as much fun in the dollhouse as the other three of them did, so he usually left it at a ‘no, thank you’ when asked to join.

It was just like living in the bakery for real. They were treated more like part of the family than like guests at this point and Adrien loved it. He knew that Félix loved it too, even when he barely showed it.

“It’s nice not to be alone anymore,” Marinette suddenly said quietly. Félix hummed approvingly, not looking up from his book, but Adrien paused his work again to look at her. It seemed like an eternity ago since he had visited her as a cat and she had spilled her heart out to him, talking about how she drifted apart with Nino and how much she suffered under Chloé’s bullying. She had seemed so small and hopeless back then, no one but her family to rely on. He often asked himself what would have become of her if he hadn’t returned to the bakery and befriended her.

“Likewise,” Adrien said just as quietly with a small wistful smile.

Before Adrien met Marinette, he and Félix had little to no experience with humans, especially not with those their age. Over the last eleven months though, the similarities but also the differences became very clear. Especially the latter.

Often, it was jarring how _unalike_ humans and halflings really were. Adrien had noticed it at various occasions when Marinette and Nino had thrown him—and Félix too for that matter—weird looks as he reacted to something in a way that was apparently not normal. He often played the ‘sheltered kid’ card, but lately he got the feeling that Marinette was slowly starting to notice the difference between what really was a result of his sheltered life and what was not.

If he learned one thing with clarity though, then it was this: humans were fragile. One fall to hurt them, one horror movie to scare them witless, one fey concept to confuse them, one nice smile to make them trust you, one play of words to make them follow you into a trap. The list went on.

Adrien’s initial worries therefore increased tenfold the more he learned. Humans were not just susceptible to faerie mischief, they were beyond _helpless_ towards it! They even threw their full real names around like flower petals on a wedding, no sense of caution at all! It was maddening.

There was yet something else Félix and he had learned about human behaviour, and that boiled down to their father’s treatment of them being even more unacceptable than they had previously thought. The shocked reactions from especially Tom and Sabine had shown that Gabriel Agreste treated them more like animals than children. He provided them with food and things to do, thinking it was alright to leave them to their own devices for a few weeks without saying anything in advance.

The comparison to animals had come from Nino, who had once muttered something about even his dog being treated better than the two of them, which Adrien and Félix had apparently not been supposed to hear. Félix, who had already lost his patience with their father, had jumped on that analogy immediately and put it into perspective, claiming that their father only saw them as cats in human form.

Adrien was therefore not surprised when he came home from a photoshoot and heard Félix yelling, seething with anger, already down in the entrance hall.

“Is father home?” He asked Nathalie timidly. She had accompanied them to all their photoshoots in the _four_ weeks Gabriel Agreste had been gone and otherwise enjoyed the free time she had been granted. A free time that apparently was over now. She seemed as startled as Adrien himself was, which couldn’t mean anything good.

“I forgot to tell him,” she said to herself, a slight fear in her voice. Adrien did not know if she meant Félix or his father, but it didn’t matter. Letting either of them be in the same room as the other promised trouble. For how long had the shouting already been going on without Adrien or Nathalie being there?

“Ringing iron bells,” Adrien cursed as he ran up the stairs to his father’s office where the shouting came from. He stopped in the doorway and took in the surreal scene in front of him.

Félix stood in front of their father with a lashing tail, its fur standing on end, the ears angrily pinned down and his claws out. Adrien noticed especially the latter because one of those clawed hands was currently wrapped around their father’s throat who for the first time in a long while looked genuinely scared.

“Fé, stop it!” Adrien cried when he snapped out of his frozen state. His brother’s left ear twitched, but other than that he gave no indication to have heard him.

“See how you like it to be trapped,” Félix snarled and roughly let go of their father who stumbled back against his desk. When Félix brushed past Adrien, he just hissed a mysterious ‘I took care of the problem’ and then prowled on in the direction of their room.

Adrien was torn on whether to go to his father and check him for possible injuries—Félix’s claws were very sharp after all, and who knows what he had done before Adrien had arrived—or going after Félix to demand an explanation. Seeing how his brother was currently riled up, it would probably be better to leave him alone for a bit.

With hesitant steps, Adrien walked closer to his father. He wouldn’t deny that he was still angry at him for everything he had done— _especially_ the bell collar—but he was still his father. Who knows? Maybe the scare Félix just gave him would knock some sense into him.

“Are you hurt?” Adrien asked, only to instantly wither under the glare his father threw him.

“Is that your sick idea of _fun_ , Adrien?”

“I—what? No! Did Félix hurt you?” Adrien stammered. It was true that he found more fun in morbid things than humans did, but this was not some cartoon or a movie, or misfortune that happened to a stranger. This was his father and he was possibly hurt! If it had been anyone but Félix, he would have heavily considered some retribution for this act.

“That remains to be seen,” his father said, his voice frosty and his glare even colder. Adrien took a step back.

“Y-you’re neglecting us. Félix is very furious about it,” he tried, his voice too timid to have an impact on the statue that was his father who just raised an eyebrow and scoffed.

“You have the best education money can buy, a personal chef, you model for a famous fashion company and have everything you wish for. How is that neglect? Félix just does not appreciate the _human ways_ as it seems.”

Adrien was baffled how his father could think of what just happened as nothing more than teenage rebellion.

“The fae part of our lives isn't the only thing you've been thoroughly neglecting,” he said, a familiar anger simmering in his stomach. It was not like the roaring flame that was Félix’s anger, but it was enough to let him face his father. How ridiculous that sounded. A parent should not be someone he needed to be afraid of, and yet…

“Pardon?”

“We never see you. We have to make appointments to talk to you and when we do, you never really listen to us anyway. We wait at dinner until our food gets cold for the slight chance that you might show up. That is not how it should be. This…it was different when mother was still around!”

Adrien thought of all the times where he had been able to go to Tom for advice for something he did not dare to ask his own father. He also thought of the many times where they had sat together at dinner with the Dupain-Chengs, with not even the slightest doubt that everyone wouldn’t show up without saying so in advance.

“Is that all?” Gabriel asked, not moved at all except for a slight narrowing of his eyes when Emilie had been mentioned. “I am very busy with the company. It is natural that I have little time.”

“Other parents are busy too but they still take time out of their schedules for their children. Sabrina’s dad even has to work night shifts but they still find times where they can at least eat dinner together!”

Yes, taking another halfling with a human father as an example was a good idea. Maybe then he’ll understand!

“That’s enough,” his father said and his tone said that the ‘discussion’ was over. “I believe you have Chinese class right now.”

Adrien lingered for a moment, waiting for this father change his mind and maybe add something. He only got an impatiently raised eyebrow in return though. With a dejected look Adrien eventually turned around and walked out of the office and to his room.

 

It took two days of their father hiding in his office and Félix’s occasional satisfied grins until Adrien realised what had happened in the office before he arrived. The nail in the coffin had been when he had heard the sound of someone struggling to open the front door and came to investigate only to see that it was his father. Adrien had offered to help and opened the _unlocked_ door for his father, only for him to turn around and walk back to his office.

“You cursed him, didn’t you?” Adrien asked that evening at dinner—another dinner their father had not bothered to show up to. Félix’s resulting grin was eerie and mischievous with no bit of regret at all.

“He deserved it,” his brother said.

“Fé, you can’t just curse father!”

“Well, I did. It’s nothing he won’t be able to survive. He just can’t leave the house for a little over a year.”

Adrien poked at the piece of chicken on his plate.

“You never cursed anyone before,” he said quietly.

“How do you know that?”

That startled him. “You did?”

Félix shrugged. “We get bad luck for blessings but good luck for curses. Do both and it negates each other. Cursing some random person on the street to get rid of some bad luck is not uncommon for a Cat Sidhe. That’s where we get our reputation from.”

“You can’t just curse people whenever you feel like it!”

Félix arched an eyebrow. “I could not exactly keep myself away from Marinette to not let the bad luck backfire on _her_ , could I?”

Adrien opened his mouth to argue, but closed it again. His brother had a point.

“It still doesn’t mean that you can curse father,” Adrien said. “He will let that out on both of us.”

“I won’t let him,” Félix said matter-of-factly.

“You’re not exactly almighty, you know?” Félix looked like he wanted to argue, so Adrien hurried to add: “I mean in a legal sense—in _human ways_ if you will. Outside of anything related to the Court. Or do you want to follow their ways all of a sudden? You can’t do things by half when it comes to magic after all. Either you commit, or you quit it before it becomes a habit.”

That got Félix’s attention. At least he looked properly abashed.

“I can _try_ ,” he mumbled.

Adrien sighed. Things were not like they have been around Samhain anymore—that was more half a year ago at this point. He could certainly trust Félix again, even though a few bad fae habits have stayed. Especially after Félix had explained what happened, things have become quite clear. Becoming less human were apparently the consequences a halfling had to endure when eating a soul. Félix could not help that and Adrien tried to be supportive, but sometimes he was just…well, he was still _Félix_ and with that he was stubborn to a fault.

“Please just…tone it down a bit. We can go to Mélusine tomorrow and talk to her. She might know a better way to help keep Marinette safe so you don’t have to bless her all the time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And don't forget: next Sunday I'll upload the last chapter of arc 1 of Spellbound and I'll go on a small hiatus with the story afterwards to write three or so chapters ahead. I _will_ drop a "chapter" with a synopsis on the following week so that people won't get confused with the update. I will explain more about how long the hiatus will exactly be in that synopsis update. But first I'll still give you around 8k words of Adrinette fluff! ;D


	25. Pretty Pretty Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien finally gets his wish granted of disguising himself as a girl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before I say anything else: This chapter is meant to be just friends having fun and it is in **no way** meant as an offence to the transgender community! If there happen to be any amab people reading this who identify as female, then I want to tell you all that you're all amazing, beautiful girls and that I appreciate you! ❤️ (same goes vice versa of course!)
> 
> * * *
> 
> Alright, this is the last chapter of arc 1 and I did my very best to wrap up loose ends! :3 I probably did not get everything, but I still have two arcs to write, so if any of you notice anything that is missing in this chapter, then please tell me! Obviously I opened other cans of worms here and those will be addressed thoroughly in arc 2, so don't you worry about that! :D  
> Thank you so much [Draxynnic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draxynnic/) and [Tempomental](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tempomental/) for beta-reading this! ❤️
> 
> PS: [Bluetreeleaves](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluetreeleaves/) is a treasure! 💖 Thank you so much for your awesome comments. You made me weep with joy! ;A; This chapter is dedicated to you, since it features _the thing_! ;D
> 
> PSS: 25 chapters for arc 1. That's like an entire book! 😱
> 
> * * *
> 
> [Adrien's outfit](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/18/96/96/189696eaead8336a918f89e2ece06fce.jpg)   
> 

Marinette tried her best to concentrate on what Mlle Bustier said about the text they had just read in class, but apart from noting down a few English words she had not known she had added nothing to the current page of her notebook. Well, that was not exactly true. She had drawn a few doodles into the corners while trying her hardest to ignore Chloé, who kept making dismissive comments about the text being ridiculous in general.

It was Friday on their second to last week before the end of school, so anything that was taught wouldn’t matter for their final grades anyway. Most students used this as an opportunity to just not pay attention in class at all. Marinette didn’t envy the teachers, but she also couldn’t work up the motivation to actually participate. Raising her hand to ask for the translation of a word she didn’t know would furthermore earn her attention from not only Mlle Bustier but also from Chloé. And it was Chloé’s attention Marinette feared, so she just did what she did best at school: be invisible. The only one who trumped her in that ability was Juleka.

The vibration of her phone provided a welcome distraction. Careful not to be caught, she put it down on her knees as she checked it.

> `**KitKat:** I GOT THE HAIR EXTENSIONS!!!`

It was a comment that sounded absolutely ridiculous out of context—though since it _was_ Adrien after all it very well still fell into his spectrum of _weird_. In any case it managed to draw a small smile on Marinette’s face and lifted her mood at least a little bit. The hair extensions had taken a long time to be delivered and since Adrien had not wanted to drop names to speed up the delivery, it had been five weeks of wait. But now that they had finally arrived there was nothing that held them back from finally pulling the prank that had been planned since Christmas.

> `**Coffee Boy:** Nathalie is judging him immensely. It is amusing to watch.`

She was cautious not to look too suspicious as she replied, keeping a pen in her right hand and doodling something in her notebook while typing with her left hand under the table.

> `**Princess:** perfect! are you free tomorrow?`

Dots immediately appeared as Adrien started typing and Marinette looked ahead to Mlle Bustier again.

> `**KitKat:** we have a photoshoot at 7 but we should be done with that by noon! 😊 `

> `**Coffee Boy:** We _would_ have classes afterwards, but we can afford to skip them. `

> `**KitKat:** the photoshoot is at the park by your house by the way!!! :3 `

> `**Coffee Boy:** Translation: Please bring pastries when you go to the park to sketch.`

Marinette had trouble to keep in a snort of amusement. She replied with a thumbs-up emoji and then ignored her phone for the remaining five minutes of class since Chloé, in her boredom, had started to look her way.

 

After the bell rang, Marinette had made it barely three steps out of the classroom when a haughty voice behind her spoke up.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” she said, putting as much disgust as possible in the name. Marinette cringed.

_Almost made it this time!_

“And where do _you_ think you’re going?” Chloé asked and when Marinette turned around she saw the cruel smirk on the blonde’s face.

“Home?” Her voice was quiet. Not quite fearful, but definitely intimidated. When it came to Chloé, it was best to let her go by like a storm and then pick up the pieces afterwards. The one time she had tried to talk back to the mayor’s daughter had been over a month ago and it had earned her a new haircut. She didn’t want to take that risk again.

“Better go to a dumpster first. Maybe you’ll find some clothes there that aren’t as hideous as whatever you’re wearing right now. A potato sack would make a good improvement.”

Chloé smirked, knowing that she had hit a sore spot. Marinette couldn’t deny that the comment hurt a little, but how much was Chloé’s opinion worth anyway when two models constantly told her how amazing her designs were?

“I know everything about fashion, in contrary to _you_ ,” she continued, putting emphasis on the latter word as if Marinette would be something repulsive. “My boyfriend is a model after all.” That statement was accompanied by a dramatic hair flip and a grin.

“Your boyfriend?” Marinette couldn’t help but ask and immediately regretted the question. The last thing she wanted was to prolongate this confrontation. Chloé threw her a patronizing grin.

“His name is Adrien Agreste and he is very famous. He always goes shopping with me since he has the second-best taste—no taste is better than mine after all—and he would certainly never hang around a lowlife like you.”

Marinette understood that Chloé aimed to make her feel bad about herself with her bragging, but in reality, she just suddenly had trouble to hold back her laughter.

Adrien’s advice for clothes shopping would mainly consist of buying as many cat pun shirts as he could find. And joke’s on Chloé, since he _did_ actually ‘hang around a lowlife like Marinette’. Not that she would say any of those things or worse: debunk Chloé’s lie. Instead she said: “Oh, that’s nice. I didn’t know people existed that lived up to your high standards.”

Chloé didn’t let her win that easily though.

“Well, you certainly wouldn’t know. Tell me, how is it like having _no friends_?”

“I have friends,” Marinette mumbled, which drew a laugh out of the blonde.

“Oh really? Then where are they?”

Chloé looked at her with the expression of someone who was sure of her victory. After all, there was no one that would be coming to Marinette’s rescue. Nino was in another class, not knowing what was going on out in the hallway and Adrien and Félix would not be in school at all. Probably ever. As much as it hurt, there really was no one in her class that stood up for her. Everyone was too afraid of Chloé to risk their own standing for someone unimportant such as Marinette. She had to fight this battle alone. And fighting alone meant to just stare at Chloé and try to swallow her frustration, anger and sadness. It meant banishing these feelings to the back of her mind and to ignore them. Showing any of them would only encourage the bully further.

_Show no reaction, then she’ll lose interest._

It was the _genius_ advice she had gotten from one of her classmates once. The only advice she had ever gotten in that regard and it had never helped nor worked. But it was the only thing she had, so she held on to a small flicker of hope.

“While you’re searching for friends you should try to find a hairdresser too. This short hair looks ugly on you,” Chloé said and her smile turned impossibly more evil as she walked past Marinette and down the hall.

_Swallow it. Don’t show any emotion. Ignore it all._

“She said _what_?!” Nino exclaimed in disbelief and clenched his fists. Marinette shrugged.

“It’s not like it’s anything new,” she said, while pushing the peas on her plate back and forth with her fork.

She had visited Nino initially to ask if he had time the next day and wanted to film the prank they were planning to pull, but then her latest confrontation with Chloé had still weighed on her mind, so she had broken down and told Nino what had happened.

“You should tell Mlle Bustier about it. Maybe she can do something,” Nino said.

“I did. But she keeps saying I should take the high road and wants me to see the good in Chloé.”

“The words ‘good’ and ‘Chloé’ should never be used in the same sentence.” Nino shook his head. “If Mlle Bustier can’t do anything about it, then how about Adrien? He knows Chloé, so maybe he can talk some sense into her.”

An ironic smile flitted across Marinette’s face. “It’s much more likely that Félix is already researching how to get away with murder on my behalf and Adrien is not far behind him on that point. Cutting my hair was one step too far.”

“Yeah, it was,” Nino said, his expression momentarily turning dark. “But you know, it doesn’t look bad. You really rock that haircut actually! I’m not saying that you should _thank_ Chloé for it, but it looks nice anyway.”

“Thanks, Nino,” she said with a smile. Count on Nino to see the good in a bad situation. Speaking of: “Have I told you yet what Adrien did when he first saw me with my new haircut?”

“Nope, please do tell.”

“He showed me pictures of models with the same haircut and then said that I was even prettier than all of them combined.”

Nino snickered. “Yep, that sounds like him. Sometimes I wonder if he’s doing it on purpose or if he just doesn’t know how flirty he sounds when complimenting you.”

Marinette blinked. “He compliments everyone like that.”

“Nope, he doesn’t. Just you.”

Now that she thought about it, Nino was right. Well, sure, Félix was his brother so they interacted differently, but she couldn’t recall a single time where Adrien has said something even remotely flirty to Nino.

“Maybe it’s because I’m a girl,” she thought out loud. That was a possibility, right? He might have adapted something from all the anime he had watched and now just channelled an Ouran High School Host Club image or something.

“Or because he’s an oblivious idiot who doesn’t realise he has a crush on you.”

“ _What?!_ ” Marinette screeched. Nope, that couldn’t be true! Not under any circumstances! They were _friends_ after all. You just did not have a crush on friends!

“No, that’s not it,” she therefore said, her thoughts racing in panic.

“Alright, then be my guest and interpret what happened on your birthday,” Nino said with a teasing grin.

If Marinette was blushing already, then the heat of her cheeks probably made them a colour similar to overripe tomatoes now.

“T-that was just a spur of the moment thing, nothing more!” She stammered.

To an outsider, it might have looked wrong when she had tackled Adrien to the ground and kissed him— _on the cheek!!!—_ but he had gifted her an honest to god _Cintiq_ tablet! And the newest model too! Those things cost as much as her parents made in an entire month! It had always been like a holy relic for her, something she had only seen once at a convention, but never thought she’d ever own.

“And he was grinning about it like a lovestruck idiot for the rest of the day,” Nino added.

“ _Or_ he was just happy that I liked his present,” Marinette pointed out, since that option was much more likely. Better not jump to conclusions.

“That definitely would explain the poetic notes you got after you first met him,” Nino continued like she hadn’t said anything. She wasn’t sure if he was still teasing her or if he was serious.

“He was just sheltered and awkward and tried to apologize,” Marinette said.

“And then he was jealous once I showed up.”

“No, he wasn’t.”

“Yes, he very much was. Caught him pacing in your living room that day when we made a baking disaster and had a talk with him about it.”

“You never told me that.”

Nino shrugged. “It never came up.”

“I still think you’re wrong,” Marinette said and hurried to eat what was left on her plate to have something else to do. Entertaining the possibility that Adrien really had a crush on her was a little too much on top of everything.

“And what if I’m not? I thought we already established that I’m the wise one of us two.”

“You _must_ be wrong. Adrien and I are _friends_. Just friends.”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that.”

“ _Nino!_ ”

He held up his hands in surrender. “Hey, I’m just saying to keep an open mind. Sometimes you two really look like you’re a couple with how you act around each other, you know?”

“No, I don’t _know_ , because it’s not true,” Marinette said adamantly and crossed her arms. Nino raised both his eyebrows in return, starting a staring match that she eventually lost.

“ _Fine_. If you think that we’re acting _couple-ly_ again then you’re allowed to poke me or throw something at me.”

That made Nino grin. “With pleasure!”

“You are a lifesaver,” Adrien sighed as he dropped down on the bench between Marinette and Nino. His comment was referring to the box on Nino’s lap which he instantly grabbed an éclair out of.

“Which one of us?” Nino asked while saving an especially tasty-looking doughnut for himself. It had odd-looking icing, just as everything in the box was slightly lower quality than what was in the display cases of the bakery. But what the pastries lacked in looks, they more than enough made up in taste.

“That depends on who brought the pastries. He is only interested in those,” Félix said from Marinette’s left. He had sat down there quite a while ago already since only Adrien needed to model and Félix had just come along to not get even more classes shoved on his schedule. Officially he was moral support, but in reality, he just read a book and snuck the occasional macaron from the pastry box or commented on Marinette’s current designs.

“Not true! I just want to know who is more deserving of my undying love today!”

“That better be me, or I’ll ruin your makeup on purpose,” Marinette said and was hit almost instantly with a doughnut crumb.

“Oops, my bad,” Nino said with a grin when she turned to frown at him. Something told her that she would come to regret what she had said the day before. And she had _not_ acted flirty just now! It had just been friendly teasing. They always did that!

“Are you done for today?” Félix asked, sneaking another macaron. Adrien just nodded since his mouth was stuffed with the éclair.

“Figured. Photoshoots rarely run late when it’s just you.”

“Seriously, it’s impossible to get a bad photo of you,” Marinette said and then looked at Félix. “And I mean both of you with that.”

“Freaking models,” Nino agreed with a roll of his eyes which earned him a friendly shove from Adrien and a blank stare from Félix.

“Excuse me for being more photogenic than you,” the latter said and closed his book.

“Dude, you don’t have to make this personal.”

“Just see it like this Nino,” Marinette said as she put away her sketchbook and stood up. “Now you have a new challenge: Take a bad photo of either of them.”

Adrien, having finally swallowed the pasty, snorted. “Good luck with that.”

“Challenge accepted!” Nino declared with a grin and gave Marinette a high five.

“I love this outfit so much!” Adrien squeed as he spun around excitedly to make the black-white, tasselled kimono shawl fly behind him. In addition to that, he wore low-cut grey-blue jeans, a white blouse, and a pair of beige sandals, the last of which he had bought himself. It was a perfectly casual outfit completed with a gold-white-black beaded long necklace Marinette had made.

With the hair extensions and the makeup, it was almost impossible to tell Adrien apart from a regular girl. The only thing that gave him away was his voice.

“Glad you like it,” Marinette said and couldn’t stop her cheeks from reddening. She was still not used to other people liking her designs to this extent.

“Not _like_ it, _love_ it!” Adrien corrected with a grin and got one of Marinette’s pillows thrown at him. She threw Nino an accusatory glare since the flirting thing was only supposed to involve her and not Adrien, but Nino just grinned innocently and pointed at Félix. Great. It seemed like Nino had told Félix of their pact and now he decided to join in to make sure that his brother would also _get a hint_ apparently. The only one who was still oblivious to what was going on was poor Adrien, though the last thing Marinette wanted to do was to tell him _why_ exactly he had just gotten a pillow thrown at him. It was ridiculous after all.

Adrien asked “What was that for?” at the same time as Marinette screeched “Don’t ruin my work! I don’t want to have to redo his makeup.”

Félix held his hands up with the indication to play nice for now. After they had returned from the park, he had changed into a shirt that he had no doubt stolen from Adrien. He had also ruined his previously perfectly arranged hair in favour for an unkempt style—she could count on one hand how often she had seen Félix with unkempt hair so far, so this was a rarity. His intent was obviously to blend into a crowd like Adrien would, though the visual similarity he had to his twin brother with this look was jarring.

Speaking of hair and looks and Félix: With his help she had finally found a hairstyle she could wear while her hair grew out again. Since it was too short to make a bun that didn’t fall apart after an hour, they had settled on pigtails for now. Adrien had even said that they looked cute, which had made her heart flutter… _because it was a nice comment!_ Everyone liked to hear nice things after all. It didn’t mean anything!

After donning some sunglasses, Marinette was ready to hit the town and see if anyone would be able to see through Adrien’s disguise. She hoped not.

When the four of them descended the stairs from her room, they walked past Sabine who was cleaning up the dishes from lunch. Upon hearing them she turned around.

“Oh my,” she said and held a hand in front of her mouth to hide a smile. “Adrien, I barely recognize you!”

“That’s the idea!” Marinette said with a proud smile.

“You look amazing in that outfit,” Sabine said and threw her daughter a wink while Adrien curtsied.

“Thank you,” he said. “But all the praise goes to Mari! She made it after all. I’m just wearing it.”

Marinette felt warmth creep into her cheeks and immediately averted her gaze to mask it. That’s how she missed Adrien jump slightly when he was poked in the side by his brother. She _did_ hear his confused “What?” though.

 

“So, what are we gonna _do_?” Nino asked when they were finally out on the street. No one had thrown them weird glances yet, so the blending-in part was working well!

“Oh, I have an idea!” An unfamiliar female voice suddenly said and both Nino and Marinette whirled around to the unknown speaker. It was just Adrien though who threw them a confused look.

“What? I’m just trying to sound authentic.”

Marinette blinked. If she had not seen that those words had come out of his mouth, she wouldn’t have believed it was Adrien who had said them. His voice sounded dramatically different, which was quite scary actually.

 “We’re good at mimicking voices,” Félix said with Adrien’s voice, which was incredibly disorienting with how similar to Adrien he currently looked.

“Dudes, stop it please. You’re both creeping me out.” Nino said with a shudder.

_Creepy indeed._

Adrien’s excited smile dropped. “I’m sorry. I just thought it would be fun. I practiced all week,” he said, in his normal voice this time.

Marinette winced and suddenly felt like she had just kicked a puppy.

“It _does_ sound amazing! It’s just a little disorienting since we’re not used to it, that’s all,” she reassured him. “Anyway, you said you had an idea?”

Adrien’s disheartened expression quickly changed back to excitement again.

“Right!” He said, his voice being higher pitched this time but still closer to his usual one than before. “I thought we could go through tourist shops and see who can find the most ridiculous merch.”

“That’s a great idea!” Nino said. “And whoever loses will have to wear all the ridiculous stuff we’ll buy!”

“Then we have to make Félix lose!” Adrien immediately snickered which earned him a glare from his brother and a giggle from Marinette.

“I think it’ll be funny no matter who loses or wins. Let’s do it!”

“And I can pretend to be a tourist and you guys can give me a tour of the city,” Adrien said and then became thoughtful. “Now that I think about it, it’s been a _while_ since I’ve been on the Eiffel tower. How about it?”

“Dear god, we’ll get pestered by those people who sell miniature Eiffel towers,” Félix groaned.

“We’ll get pestered by them no matter which tourist attraction we go to,” Nino pointed out.

“Nah, you just have to dodge them,” Marinette said with a wave of her hand. “As long as we don’t act too much like tourists, they won’t pester us anyway.”

“Let’s see how many vendors will call me _Mademoiselle_ ,” Adrien snickered, obviously amused.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep count to make sure your dignity is in shambles afterwards,” Félix assured him.

“My dignity will be fully intact, thank you very much.”

“I’ll just take every _Mademoiselle_ as a personal compliment,” Marinette said. “It means that I managed to do a good job with the disguise.”

“That’s already guaranteed anyway,” Nino said. “Just give me a heads up when you start talking to people so I can film it.”

Adrien gave him a thumbs up. “Don’t expect too many surprised reactions though. I’m quite the good actor,” he said with a wink.

“Wait, if this is supposed to be a prank, then isn’t the whole point getting a reaction out of people?” Nino asked.

“Yes, but this is a disguise first and foremost and apparently Adrien gets a kick out of not being recognized,” Marinette said.

“You bet I am! This is hilarious!” His voice had gradually become higher so that he sounded like a girl again. It just wasn’t as much as a shock this time. And really, if Adrien was having fun, then who was Marinette to discourage him? Nino seemed to take it with humour at this point too and was mainly relieved that Félix continued to talk in his own voice instead of using Adrien’s. Seriously, _that_ had been even creepier than Adrien’s voice change.

 

Just as predicted, the vendors that ran around tourist attractions and sold miniature Eiffel towers _did_ try to get their attention. They didn’t even fear Félix’s glares, which certainly spoke for a lack of a survival instinct. Adrien’s efforts at pretending to speak neither French nor English made everything worse since it seemed to further encourage them. It was usually Marinette who stepped between the twins and the vendors with a firm ‘no, thank you’ that succeeded to chase them away.

At least _on_ the Eiffel tower they were free from them.

“You were right, you know?” Marinette said as she and Adrien leaned against the railing and looked over Paris down below.

“That is very likely. About what specifically though?” He asked with a grin.

“That I like to watch what’s going on from high-up places. You said you liked it in one of the notes you gave me last year when I was still mad at you for that leaf thing, remember?”

Adrien’s grin shrunk into a fond smile. “Yeah, I remember. Maybe we should go up here again soon.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Marinette said. Caught up in the moment as she was, she didn’t notice Nino approaching from behind and poking her in the side—she would probably be blue around the ribcage soon if it continued like that.

“Should we go down again? We still have awful tourist merch to buy after all,” he said and didn’t seem to have any scruple about having just destroyed a moment.

_Wait, what?_

No, they _hadn’t_ had a _moment_. A moment would mean for there to have been something between them that was romantic, in most interpretations of the term at least. And seeing anything romantic in their relationship would mean that Nino was right and that his stupid plan was working.

_No, it was just a nice moment between two good friends. Calm down, Marinette! Adrien didn’t ask you on a date after all!_

No, but he had suggested that just the two of them would go up on the Eiffel tower again, which was, for a lot of people, the most unironically romantic place in the world.

_It still didn’t mean anything!_

 

The first time Adrien got addressed with _Mademoiselle_ was when they were about to go to the elevators of the Eiffel tower and he was asked to take a picture. Nino filmed it and caught the ‘Thank you Mademoiselle’ on video, much to especially Félix’s glee who immediately asked to have all video footage sent to him at the end of the day. Adrien and Marinette just kept breaking into fits of laughter once they were in the elevator, which earned them weird looks from the other passengers. The looks made it all the more hilarious though.

The second time had been when someone who tried to sell single roses to passers-by had handed Adrien a rose with the words ‘For a beautiful Princess’. The poor woman had probably not predicted that the _young girl_ she had just given the rose to would break out into howling laughter, with Marinette and Nino not far behind.

“I’m sorry…but…she’s the Princess,” Adrien managed to get out between laughs and somehow managed to keep his voice from slipping back to his natural one. He then pointed at Marinette who was too used to the inside joke at this point to feel embarrassed about it. The flower vendor was extremely confused though.

Adrien had ended up buying the yellow rose and given it to Marinette. He had also been quick to point out that yellow roses symbolized ‘friendship’ and that it therefore fit perfectly.

Marinette had no idea why she suddenly felt a pang of disappointment at that. Of course they were friends! …What else would they be?

 

“How does it look?” Nino asked after donning a particularly atrocious pink, sequined hat with the Eiffel Tower on it.

“Revolting,” Félix said after only a short glance. Marinette could only agree. Whoever designed this merchandise had no fashion sense whatsoever.

“Mari! Look what I found!” Adrien suddenly squeaked and produced a hairband with cat ears in the colours of the French flag.

“Really?” She asked flatly. There _had to_ be an end to cat themed merchandise eventually, right? If there was, then they had clearly not reached that point yet, because Adrien just kept finding new stuff.

“Yes, _really!_ ”

He bounced excitedly in place.

“It’s not as atrocious as Nino’s new hat though,” she said, which made Adrien gasp, appalled.

“These are not atrocious! They are a work of art!”

“Work of art? The dye job is sloppy at best. I can make you better ones than that any day.”

“Is that an offer?” He asked with a smirk.

“Yeah, sure,” Marinette said with a shrug and immediately had the atrocious hat thrown at her.

“Really?” She asked, this time towards Nino and in an exasperated tone.

“Yep,” he just said and picked up the hat from the floor when the shop owner threw a glare his way.

“Will anyone explain to me why you two keep throwing stuff at Mari and me or poke us?” Adrien asked.

 _Aha, so he_ did _notice that it hadn’t been just him!_

“Nope, dude. Unless Nette wants to explain.”

“Forget it,” she said to Nino even before Adrien used the most damning weapon at all on her: puppy eyes.

“So, are you going to buy that?” She therefore asked and gave the hat in Nino’s hands a pointed stare.

_Just don’t look at Adrien._

“Depends. Do you think we’ll find something worse than that here?”

“Doubtful. Pink sequins are hard to top,” Félix said as he regarded a t-shirt that said “Je t’aime Paris” with such a deep frown as if it had personally offended him.

“Then I’ll buy it!” Nino said and fought his way through the tourists to get to the cash register.

“ _Princess_ ,” Adrien whined behind her—his girl voice still threw her off guard.

“You better not be buying those cat ears,” she said while pretending to look through a collection of snow globes. Adrien was undeterred though.

“Please tell me why we keep getting stuff thrown at us.”

“I’ll tell you later,” she said, avoiding the question altogether. Adrien didn’t seem happy about that answer but to her immense relief dropped the subject. Hopefully he wouldn’t ask again soon.

 

They left the souvenir shop shortly afterwards. Marinette had kept Adrien from buying the cat ears only by promising to craft him much better ones. When they walked down the street towards the next tourist trap, they came across a park where a fair was currently held. Adrien’s eyes grew wide and he stopped.

“Can we please, _please_ go there?” He begged with sparkling eyes like a little kid.

They quickly decided that going on a fair was a lot more fun than hunting for bad merch in souvenir shops, so they abandoned their previous plan in favour of stuffing their faces with cotton candy, going on rides and at last, discovering the claw game machines. Adrien was _thrilled_!

“Those things are corrupt as hell, dude,” Nino warned him.

“It’s a question of _skill_! Just tell me what you want and I’ll get it for you,” Adrien said confidently.

“He’s right, you know? You’ll just lose a lot of money in those things,” Marinette said.

“It’s not like I’m short on money,” he said with a grin and then stopped in front of a machine that had a variety of stuffed animals inside it.

“Watch and learn,” he said and threw a Euro into the machine. It came to life and Adrien expertly navigated the claw to where he wanted it. It grabbed a plushie, but it immediately slipped out of its grip again, which let the claw return to its starting point.

Adrien gaped at the machine in outrage.

“Told you,” Nino said.

“I’ll just try again!”

Adrien, as expected, was way too stubborn to admit defeat just yet. It took thirteen tries until Nino finally decided to put his foot down.

“How about we stop Adrien from wasting any more money and see what else is on this fair?” He suggested while simultaneously dragging a squirming Adrien away from the claw game.

“I agree. Though I doubt that anything will stop him from throwing more money away,” Félix said.

“Hello? I’m still here, guys! And I’m not throwing it away, I’m investing it!” Adrien argued as they walked out of the building and back to the main path of the fair.

“In low-quality plushies,” Félix countered.

“They were cute!”

“And bad quality.”

“Guys, stop the bickering,” Marinette said and shoved herself between the twins. “We all know that we can’t stop KitKat from anything he sets his mind to, so it’s not worth arguing about it. If he wants to waste your father's’ money, then I say, let him.”

“Oh, he hasn’t told you yet? This is _his_ money he is wasting since father cut off any financial support to us,” Félix said with an eye roll.

Marinette blinked. That indeed was news. She looked at Adrien who rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

“It’s not a big deal. I mean, modelling is quite lucrative.”

“Alright, in that case please don’t waste a lot of money anymore. I’d feel bad about it.”

“I promise to only spend it on things that are worth it,” he said with a grin. A grin that grew when he suddenly saw a booth that had a giant cat plushie as its grand prize. All one had to do was earn no less than one thousand points with popping balloons by throwing darts at them. Marinette knew instantly that in Adrien’s eyes, the grand prize was very much worth spending money on.

Félix seemed to realise something similar because she watched how his expression went from exasperated to resigned. Nino meanwhile took out his phone to film what would no doubt be another memorable moment of their day.

“Bonjour Mademoiselle, do you want to give it a try? Even for a few points you can win one of these,” the stallholder said and pointed at some baskets that had consolation prizes in them like a small squirt gun or one of these spirals that flip-flopped down stairs.

“Absolutely,” Adrien said with a confident grin. “How many do I have to hit to get that cat there?”

The stallholder chuckled at the boldness.

“That would be one hundred balloons and you’d have to pay fifty Euros for one hundred darts.”

“Deal!” Adrien said and pretty much slammed the bill down on the counter.

“How good is your aim?” Marinette asked him while the stallholder counted the one hundred darts.

“We have a dart board in our room and I’ve done fencing for practically my whole life, so I’d say my aim is pretty good,” Adrien said with a confident smirk.

“Your chances of every single throw being a hit are still quite low,” Félix remarked.

“Oh, friends of little faith, I’ll just need some _luck_ , that’s all,” Adrien said with a grin and got out the lucky charm Marinette had gifted him last summer. When had he pocketed it earlier? For some reason, the comment earned him a disapproving scowl from Félix.

“Don’t worry, this is not cheating,” he added quietly to his brother, though not quiet enough that Marinette and Nino didn’t hear. How would one even cheat in a game of throwing darts at balloons?

“Here you go, Mademoiselle,” the stallholder said and presented Adrien with his pile of one hundred darts. Marinette couldn’t help but feel nervous. Adrien plus sharp objects that were thrown? That did sound like a disaster waiting to happen if she was being honest. Nino seemed to think the same thing because he took a cautious step back.

Then the first dart flew and hit a balloon, making it burst with a satisfying plop. Another followed and after that a third. After thirty popped balloons with not a single throw missing its target, the stallholder seemed to grow unsure. He had no doubt seen a chance to mercilessly scam someone, selling more and more darts to let them reach their goal, but Adrien defied his expectations. And not just his. Marinette stared in disbelief as the fiftieth balloon was popped with the fiftieth dart.

Some other people had stopped to watch too, or to just wait for their turn since it was clear that one hundred balloons were a little more than half of the balloons that hung on the wall.

Ninety darts and the stallholder gaped in disbelief.

Ninety-one. Ninety-two.

“How is she doing that?” One of the people who had stopped to watch, asked.

Ninety-seven. Ninety-eight. Ninety-nine.

Everyone seemed to hold their breath when Adrien threw his last dart and hit. He cheered and Marinette joined him in his happy jumping. When the stallholder handed the giant cat plush—or was it a pillow?—over to Adrien with something that was more a grimace than a smile, Adrien gave Marinette an overjoyed grin.

 “For you, Princess,” he said with a smile that melted her heart.

_Heart, stop melting! This is not the time!_

“You can’t just give that to me! It’s too much!”

“Of course I can,” he said. “Besides, I think my arms are tired from all the dart throwing so this plush will end on the dirty ground in one…two—”

Marinette took the giant cat plush away from him, which probably looked comical since it was almost as big as her.

“You’re impossible,” she said, which only deepened Adrien’s grin.

“Impossible or implausible?”

“Both. You’re definitely both.”

“It’s a shame I don’t have something to throw at you two right now,” Nino said while still holding up his phone, clearly filming them.

“ _Nino!_ This definitely doesn’t count!” Marinette argued and could already feel herself blush for the who-knows-how-manyth time that day.

“Oh, believe me, it _does_ count. You can watch the footage of it later if you want.”

Marinette was about to reply, but a sudden wetness on her hand distracted her from it. She looked up at the sky that had become quite cloudy in the last half an hour, dark clouds swallowing the last patches of blue sky that were left.

“Is it starting to rain?”

“Yes, it is,” Félix said with disdain. She could have sworn to have also heard him grumble “I’ve been waiting for that all day.”

Suddenly Adrien grabbed her hand.

“Come on, we’ll find shelter in the Ferris Wheel!” He said with a grin and started speed-walking through the crowd with her in tow.

“W-why the Ferris Wheel? It’s on the other side of the park!” Marinette said and threw a look back over her shoulder to see if Nino and Félix were following them as well. They were making a valiant effort to, but were eventually swallowed by the crowd. Alright, just Adrien, her, a giant plush cat and an impending thunderstorm then. Nothing to worry about!

“We can just go into one of these food tents and wait for the rain to stop,” she continued as they walked past said tents.

“I’ve never been on a Ferris Wheel before,” Adrien said with a shy smile. “And since we need shelter from the rain, I thought it’d just pop two balloons with one dart, so to speak.”

 Marinette gave him an eye roll and a smile. It might not be the most practical solution, but she could see his train of thought.

The rain, that had been a few single drops thus far, suddenly picked up. They sprinted to the Ferris Wheel which, luckily for them, was not that popular in the afternoons. They were immediately seated.

“Ha! We made it!” Adrien said breathlessly as the Ferris Wheel started moving. He did not alter his voice to sound like a girl now that they were alone. It was almost a shock to hear his normal voice again after a whole afternoon of not hearing it.

“Don’t celebrate just yet, because in about five minutes we’ll be out of here again,” Marinette said as she watched the rain hit the glass of the gondola.

“But for now, we are.”

Adrien giggled. A giggle that quickly grew into laughter that Marinette couldn’t help but join.

“You’re crazy, you know?” She said. “You took off across the entire fair, dragging me and a giant cat plush behind you, just because it _had to_ be the Ferris Wheel where we would find shelter from the rain.”

“But it was fun, wasn’t it?” Adrien countered, not the least bit regretful.

“Yeah, it was,” Marinette laughed and then leaned back with a content sigh. She set the cat plush she had been holding with an iron grip down next to her.

“So, first time on a Ferris Wheel. What’s your impression?” She asked.

“It’s nice!” Adrien said as the gondola slowly rose higher and higher. “I really like the view from up here, even with the rain. How about you? How often have you been on a Ferris Wheel?”

Marinette thought about that for a moment. “Not that often actually. Maybe around ten times overall? More or less.” She shrugged. “It’s nice though. And quiet.”

A comfortable silence befell them, the only sound being the rain, as they both just enjoyed sitting in the gondola for a bit and, in Marinette’s case, waiting for her heartbeat to calm down from all the running.

“We just abandoned Nino and Félix,” Marinette eventually pointed out while looking through the window next to her as if she could see the two.

“Fé will curse up a storm of his own if he didn’t find a dry place to wait the rain shower out in,” Adrien snickered.

“Right, I almost forgot that he’s not the biggest fan of rain.”

A grin grew on her face when she imagined Félix just wildly throwing around all kinds of curses while running through the downpour.

“So, uhm…can I ask you something?” Adrien asked, his voice suddenly insecure which made alarm bells go off in Marinette’s head. What was bothering him?

“Sure. Shoot!”

“Earlier you said that you would explain later what is going on with the poking and throwing stuff at us. …Is it later now? I mean, you know what’s going on and Nino and Félix obviously know it too…and…well, I was just wondering if it’s something bad because none of you want to tell me what it is.”

 _Oh my god. Anything but_ this _question!_

For a moment Marinette played with the idea of grabbing the cat plush again and pulling it in front of her face to hide the blush that was surely there now.

 “W-well, you see, it’s not necessarily _bad_. It’s just a little awkward because Nino and Félix are jumping to conclusions.”

“What conclusions?” Adrien asked and blinked innocently.

_Just tell him!_

Marinette took a deep breath and pulled the cat plush closer for moral support.

“Yesterday, Nino said something about the two of us acting like a couple a lot and I told him he was imagining things. I actually wanted to prove him wrong so I said that he could throw something at me or poke me whenever I’d do something he considered as flirting. I thought nothing would happen because obviously I don’t flirt with you and vice versa! But…apparently Nino doesn’t see it that way.” She didn’t even want to know how deep her blush was at this point. She hugged the cat tighter. “And apparently Félix also liked the idea of proving to us that we act like a couple. But…uh…I don’t know. It’s just the kind of friendship we have since we’re both very affectionate people and…well…”

Marinette had no idea where she was going with this. All she had accomplished was to turn both of them into furiously blushing messes and to make everything awkward.

_Way to go._

Why couldn’t they just laugh about how ridiculous the mere idea of them as a couple was? Why was it so embarrassing to talk about it?

“It’s silly, right?” Marinette said eventually to snap them both out of the awkward silence. She fiddled with the charms on her bracelet, a nervous habit she had adapted ever since she got it.

“Yeah, totally silly!” Adrien said and the higher pitch of his laugh was not due to impersonating a girl this time but rather had a hysterical note to it.

 “Sorry for not telling you earlier, but I didn’t want to make it awkward,” Marinette said in an attempt to somehow salvage the rest of her dignity.

“No, it’s okay!” Adrien quickly said and then snorted. “It’s actually pretty funny when you think about it. If the situations are ever reversed, we will definitely return the favour for them.”

Marinette couldn’t help but grin. She loved Adrien’s mischievous side.

“Oh, you bet we will! I’ll bring stale bread as ammunition.”

Adrien then held his fist out with a grin and she bumped it, the awkwardness slowly disappearing.

“You know, I have never flirted with anyone before so I wouldn’t even know how to go about it.”

To Marinette’s immense surprise, this one sentence did _not_ make the awkwardness return. Well, maybe just a little.

“And I never had anyone flirt with me before, so we’re basically equally oblivious,” she said with a grin. Finally! They had transcended into joking territory. At last, they could laugh about it!

“I mean, you sometimes sound like you’re trying to imitate Tamaki Suoh, but other than that I wouldn’t know of any flirting.”

Adrien laughed. “Well, I do have the French part, the piano playing and the blond hair down for that role at least.”

He leaned forward and Marinette’s traitorous heart skipped a beat when he got closer. All he did though was to pull the yellow rose from earlier out of her bag.

“And I gifted you a rose,” he added with a wink, handing it over to her again. She accepted it with an amused grin.

“Instead of dressing you like a girl I should have let you cosplay Tamaki today. You certainly have the act down. Especially the dramatics.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment, thank you very much.” He bowed overdramatically. “Speaking of dressing me like a girl though: I’d say the disguise was successful!” Adrien said with an excited grin.

“You got called _Mademoiselle_ or referred to with female pronouns no less than thirty-three times today. Is your masculinity in shambles yet?”

Adrien snorted. “I’ve never cared much about portraying a masculine image anyway and this was way too much fun to dislike it even the least bit. I think the best part was that people just didn’t question it. It’s like I was invisible for once. You know, invisible in a good way!”

Marinette grinned, knowing exactly what he meant.

“Yeah. Finally, no close calls or weird looks because we were wearing glittery masks that didn’t do much to divert attention.”

She rolled her eyes. Apart from the trip to the book store the previous summer, the masks had come out a few other times too. Marinette had of course made some changes to make them look a little less horrible, but they had drawn attention to themselves anyway.

“Today I could just be _normal_ for once. Walking around Paris, being with friends, doing silly stuff without it ending up on the tabloids.”

Adrien grinned and took her left hand, the one that had the bracelet around it. He looked at the charms with a small smile and Marinette couldn’t look away as he stroked a finger over the small Eiffel tower and the crown. His gaze out of sparkling green eyes met hers. It always fascinated her how someone could have eyes that green. It was not the greyish or even swampy shade of green that most green eyes she had seen in her life had, but it was a warm green with golden accents that always reminded her of a spring meadow.

“And it’s all thanks to you, Princess,” Adrien said and shyly kissed the back of her hand.

Marinette let herself fall down on her chaise lounge and regarded the outfit Adrien had worn as it hung neatly over the back of her chair. The giant cat plush was beside her—she’d put it up on her bed after she had properly cleaned it—and she leaned on it for support. _So much_ had happened today. _Too much_ had happened. Among the fun stuff had been a few revelations though that she could have very much continued to live without.

Number one: Adrien and she were both oblivious, since they didn’t notice they were flirting with each other. Nino had shown her the footage he had taken with a shit-eating grin and she had to admit that he was right. From an outsider’s perspective it was hard to deny that she and Adrien looked closer than normal friends usually were.

Number two: Her heart was a traitor and should be locked up in jail for its continuous acts of high treason. It didn’t matter how much she told herself that she and Adrien were just friends, something in her always rebelled against it. For the entire day this rebelling voice had gotten louder and louder until eventually it had almost completely taken her over.

She regarded the singular yellow rose that stood on her desk in a vase. Yellow for platonic love and therefore friendship—she had looked it up as soon as Adrien and Félix had gone home. It had been a sweet and, in the moment, even funny present, but now Marinette couldn’t help but frown as she looked at the flower and its godforsaken colour. The wrong colour.

She had absolutely no idea when it had happened, but at some point, over the last year she had developed a crush on Adrien. It had just been today that she had _accepted_ that crush’s existence. Nino had seen it all along, but _she_ had been oblivious.

And as it seemed, the talk with Adrien in the Ferris Wheel, where she had pretty much hammered down the point that the two of them were _just friends_ was not helping her case at all. Especially not since he had not hesitated to agree.

Marinette let her head sink down into her awaiting palms and released curse words her parents would be ashamed to hear coming out of her mouth. And then she said them again. With adjectives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Bonus:**  
>  And meanwhile, wherever they were, Félix and Nino suddenly felt an irresistible urge to throw something at the Ferris Wheel and didn't know why.  
> (thanks [Draxynnic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draxynnic/) for that one! ;D)
> 
> * * *
> 
> Alright, with this, Spellbound will go on a short hiatus. I hope to be able to update again at the beginning of May though we'll have to see how regularly that will be. Because of uni, I might have to change my upload schedule to "every second Sunday" or even another week day. The next three chapters are already written, but I'll have to do some planning to breach a time gap I was not considering very thoroughly when first planning the story.  
> Also, I deserpately need to continue writing on Clockwork Harmony. As some of you might have noticed, I didn't update this week. My initial plan was to finally finish chapter 6, but whenever I try to, my brain just goes blank. So, that's not fun. No idea when I'll be back on track with that one, but I promise to come back to it eventually after a small break to gather my thoughts! 😊
> 
> Also, do you remember what I said about posting a synopsis as a seperate chapter? I changed my mind. It just messes up the chapter numbers AO3 assigns, so I'll just put it in the description of the next chapter. Small hint already: Origins and onward ;D


	26. No First Day At School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Origins with a twist - part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back to...well, regular uploads, I suppose. :'D At least that's the idea of having 9 chapters pre-written already! :3  
> As you can see, the upload schedule changed! Instead of Sundays, I am now uploading on Thursdays. Why? Just because! ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> I have chapters ready for until the end of June at the moment, so I hope that I'll be able to keep the schedule consistent this time! 
> 
> Anyway, I have finally gotten to the Miraculous part of the story, which will mean that now I get to mess with the canon! >:D  
> I'm gonna say that now before people accuse me of things not going according to canon: I am writing an AU where Adrien has a twin brother, where he and Marinette are friends already and where faeries exist. Things are _bound_ to be somewhat different, including some characters' reactions or some dynamics. Please keep in mind that I decided some things with future scenes and developments in mind, so please wait before you judge. :3  
>  Otherwise I hope you enjoy fae lore because there's gonna be more of that soon! ^v^

Félix was not unfamiliar with challenges or precarious situations. Between living with a fae-hating father and having nothing to protect himself from being lured to another realm every other month but flowers and dried fruit, he’d grown quite accustomed to dealing with difficulties.

To be able to go to school, however, involved a lot more trickery and especially bargains than were usually involved. Including, and not limited to, _Chloé’s_ help. While he was not thrilled to have made deals with a fae and the personification of a spoiled rich kid—a combination from the netherworld itself, no doubt—he had begrudgingly accepted that she had more connections than him. His father would never allow them to go to public school after all, especially not after Félix had cursed him, so he couldn’t just drop the name ‘Agreste’ in his favour. Fortunately, the principal of Collège Françoise Dupont was part of the Unseelie Court as well. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t an Aos Sidhe, but a faerie owl called a Duphon—he really had not been subtle at all with his school’s name—which meant that he had to listen to the royal fae without complaint. This put him at Chloé’s mercy and also Adrien’s and Félix’s if they so chose.

The tricky part of the ordeal had not been the principal, but rather Chloé herself. She was delighted by the idea of having _her Adrikins_ so close every day, but to let Félix enrol as well, she had needed some _compensation for her troubles_. While the blonde was not as experienced as the older fair folk, her intelligence was not to be underestimated. Félix had not wanted to settle on a favour in exchange for her help, since that could literally be anything. No, he had needed something more concrete. Said concrete thing turned out to be his and Adrien’s appearance at her parties and their presence on Samhain.

Félix had even been relieved about the latter, since a pre-set arrangement like that excused both Adrien and him from going to the revel, should they be invited. And if Félix wanted to avoid one thing at all costs, then it was the revel.

Félix closed his eyes for a moment to will away the unwelcome memories trying to nudge at the back of his mind, focusing instead on the sound of his brother scrambling and flailing as he got ready for their first day of school. The air in their room was thick with joy, anxiety, excitement and window cleaner—the household staff had cleaned their room while they had been at basketball practice the previous day.

When Félix opened his eyes again, the scene in front of him had not changed much. Adrien was still running around like a headless chicken, gathering everything he thought he would need in a backpack that, judging by its size, was most likely designed to hold supplies for a one-month-long camping trip at the very least. He had to suppress an eye-roll and a sigh as he observed this pitiful sight and instead took a picture. One never knew if it might be useful in the future.

“Why not try this one instead?” Félix then asked and held up a considerably smaller and much more appropriate shoulder bag.

“But it won’t all fit in there!” Adrien argued while he was in the process of trying to fit a basketball into the bag. Félix looked at the ceiling in exasperation.

_Danu, grant me strength._

“Do I need to call Marinette so that someone with school experience can tell you that what you’re doing is ridiculous? Or will you finally listen to me?”

This made Adrien pause.

“You really think this is too much? We will spend hours at school!”

“Yes, _in class_!”

“B-but what about the breaks? I heard there are breaks! I want to have something to do then, so I have to be prepared.”

This time Félix couldn’t help the eye-roll. “You have been hanging around Marinette too much.”

“That’s not bad!”

“It is when you adopt her bad habits. Overorganisation _is_ a thing, you know?”

Now it was Adrien’s turn to let out an annoyed sigh.

“ _Fine!_ How would _you_ pack a school bag?”

Félix took the giant backpack out of Adrien’s hands and started unpacking.

_Knitting supplies_ _—_ _really, Adrien?_

That particular item earned a raised eyebrow.

_Where did he even get those?_

Said raised eyebrow turned into a deep frown when his hands closed around something smooth and solid, thumb tracing the edges of a hole in the stone’s centre.

“Please tell me you weren’t planning on using that,” he said as he held up the adder stone for Adrien to see. His brother squirmed uncomfortably.

“You know, I just thought it would be good to find out if there are more fae other than Chloé and Sabrina at the school. I’m not as good as telling them apart from humans as you are.”

If possible, Félix’s frown deepened as he threw the adder stone aside and instead pulled out a spiral notebook that he placed in the smaller white bag.

“You’re not supposed to. I can only do it because I ate a soul and I sincerely hope that you won’t ever follow my bad example. If there is anyone else around at the school then I’ll tell you.”

Félix knew that Adrien had meant well, but antagonizing other fae by seeing through their glamour with an obvious thing like an adder stone was not a good way to go about the situation.

He handed Adrien the shoulder bag which now also contained a tablet, a small pencil case, a calculator, a package of tissues and a water bottle.

“This does not look like much.”

“It is enough, trust me. Especially considering that we’ll have to outrun Nathalie and the Gorilla, so less weight is beneficial.”

Felix shouldered his own bag and then checked himself in the mirror one last time. He looked like a perfect model-student, maybe a little too formally clothed but acceptable. It was a look that stood in stark contrast to what he was about to do: Climbing out of a two-story window and over a garden wall to rebelliously run away from home.

“Alright, are you ready?” He asked and watched an anxious but mostly excited grin take over his brother’s face.

“Yes! Let’s do this!”

“Words cannot describe how much I want to hit my head against a wall.”

“I said I’m sorry!”

Félix fixed his brother with a deadpan look as the school building faded into the distance through the car window.

“We were _at the entrance_ , Adrien! Just a little more determination on your part and we would be sitting in class right now.”

“I couldn’t help it! T-there was an old man and he couldn’t get up without his cane. I just had to help him.”

Adrien did not look up from his fidgeting hands while he guiltily admitted what had ultimately led to the failure of their escape. Sure, Félix could have gone to school on his own, but without Adrien there really was not much of a point to be there.

“You really fail as a fair one,” Félix said with an ironic grin and shook his head.

“Was that a compliment or an insult?” Adrien seemed offended.

“Depends. You’re supposed to be a selfish creature, yet you’ve grown annoyingly selfless in the past year.”

Adrien grinned. “A compliment then. Thank you very much.”

Nathalie was suspiciously quiet during the entire ride and made a point of looking at her tablet in concentration as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. Félix narrowed his eyes. He knew that she was acting on his father’s orders and that she did it to keep her job, but she was still walking on thin ice with him. Judging by how she flinched when she caught his gaze, she knew it too.

When the iron gates of the mansion closed behind them, Félix could not help but glare at them too.

“Ringing iron bells,” he growled. They had been _so close_.

 

Their lectures continued as they were marked on their schedules. Adrien answered Nathalie’s questions with boredom while Félix did not see why he should put effort into this torture. Glaring at the furniture in the cold room was a much better use of his time. Oh, and texting Marinette of course.

> `**Princess:** Chloé chased me away from my seat because she wanted to sit behind Adrien`
> 
> ` I tried to sit next to Nino instead but _no_ that’s _Adrien’s_ seat  >>`
> 
> `then Adrien didn’t show up`
> 
> `karma! >:D`
> 
> `**Coffee Boy:** We almost made it but he just _had to_ help up an old man.`
> 
> `**Princess:** that’s good though! I helped an old man today too. he almost got run over by a car and I pulled him away just in time! at the price of macaroons…`
> 
> `**Coffee Boy:** WHAT THE HELL, MARINETTE!?`
> 
> `**Princess:** what?`
> 
> `**Coffee Boy:** Don’t just run into traffic!`
> 
> `**Princess:** I’m fine! I only had one macaroon left at the end though because I dropped the box again when I was in class T^T`
> 
> `**Coffee Boy:** just your luck`
> 
> `**Princess:** IKR?`
> 
> `I shared it with the new student though`
> 
> `her name is Alya and she loves superheroes!`
> 
> `she and KitKat will probably get along fantastically ;D`
> 
> `**Coffee Boy:** Great. Just what we needed: Another nerd for him to bond with.`
> 
> `**Princess:** let him be! O:`
> 
> `**KitKat:** DON’T GET RUN OVER BY CARS PRINCESS!!!`

Félix glanced up to see that Nathalie had paused in her lecture to make them read a text. Something Adrien obviously did not do since he was currently busy typing up a storm on his phone.

> `**KitKat:** YES PLEASE INTRODUCE ME! THIS IS AMAZING! I’LL DEFINITELY COME TO SCHOOL TOMORROW!`
> 
> `**Coffee Boy:** Look what you did.`
> 
> `**Princess:** no regrets`

“Félix,” Nathalie called and he looked up with a frown. “Can you summarize the text?”

“Not interested,” he replied soberly and then looked back at his phone. She sighed.

Félix saw her taking a breath as if she was about to say something, but she didn’t get the chance to as the doors opened at exactly that moment.

“What are you two doing, sneaking off to go to school?” Their father said in a voice cold as ice. Félix met his gaze with an equally icy glare.

“You told him?” Adrien asked, betrayed, while Nathalie averted her gaze.

“Father, why can’t we go to school like everyone else?”

Félix knew the moment that their father entered the room that this would be a lost cause, though Adrien did not seem to have gotten the memo yet.

“Because you are not like everybody else,” Gabriel replied and let the sentence hang in the room. Adrien flinched as if he had been slapped and Félix let out a threatening growl. _He_ was fine with being called different, but to Adrien, who tried to be human with every fibre of his being, such a reminder was really hurtful.

“Good job. Does that mean you’re on your way to acceptance then?” Félix said sarcastically and could barely hold back from accompanying the statement with a slow clap. His father did not seem to find it funny though.

“You two will never go to school. Did I make myself clear?”

Adrien suddenly jumped up and stormed out of the room. Félix followed suit.

“You’re playing with fire,” he hissed as he passed his father but didn’t wait to see if it earned him a reaction.

Once in their room, Félix found Adrien face down on their bed.

“We’ll try again tomorrow,” he said as he sat down next to Adrien and scratched him behind the ears.

“What good would that do? Father will just send Nathalie again to stop us. How many times will we be able to sneak away before he makes it impossible? One day? Two days?” Adrien whined, continuing to wallow in self-pity.

Félix sighed as he stood up, deciding to let Adrien mope for now. He made his way up the spiral staircase to the second level and let himself fall down on a beanbag there. His phone had vibrated nearly non-stop for the previous few minutes so he was curious to find out what Marinette was texting him about.

> `**Princess:** and don’t worry KitKat I don’t plan to make it a habit`
> 
> ` running in front of cars that is`
> 
> `holy shit`
> 
> `ONE OF MY CLASSMATES JUST TURNED INTO A STONE GOLEM! WHAT THE HELL!!!???`

Félix blinked and then reread the words. It was like staring at a familiar scenery where a tree had been felled and needing a second to place what was off. And then, when the realisation finally hit him, it was like his world was crumbling. He could feel the blood drain from his face as the meaning sunk in.

_No. By Danu, no! This is not supposed to happen!_

He needed a moment to pull himself out of pre-maturely panicking before he could read on.

> `**Princess:** MY NEW FRIEND IS CRAZY`
> 
> ` SHE IS CHASING AFTER IVAN BECAUSE SHE THINKS SUPERHEROS WILL SHOW UP`
> 
> `WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING??? THOSE THINGS DON’T HAPPEN!!!`

She was absolutely right with that. Those things did not happen. At least, they didn’t happen to humans. Not on this scale.

> `**Coffee Boy:** Where are you right now?!`

His hands trembled as he typed, not even noticing the noise from outside that startled Adrien to jump up from bed and turn on the TV. The minute it took Marinette to reply passed torturously slowly.

> `**Princess:** just got home`

He breathed a sigh of relief. The bakery should be safe, especially with all the charms in Marinette’s room.

> `**Coffee Boy:** STAY THERE!`

He barely registered the sound of the TV in the background as the news announced that a supervillain was attacking Paris.

This was magic. Magic that drew attention and therefore everything the Court reviled. Whichever maniac used it would probably be dead by the end of the day. Exposure on this level was dangerous after all. Humans were not supposed to know about the existence of magic. They should write it off as fiction.

This was bad. _Very_ bad.

“What’s this doing here?” Adrien said while Félix was still in the middle of panicking. His panic was cut short when a surge of magic suddenly went through their room, making the fur on his tail and ears stand on end. He shifted out of caution and then looked down to an equally startled Adrien who was looking at a floating little being.

“Did you just let loose an imp in our room?!” Félix yelled and jumped down to the ground level to catch the flying black thing that started to dart around their room and took a bite out of random objects.

“I’m sorry! I had no idea the box was magic!” Adrien screeched, as he tried to catch the flying creature as well. It took a few minutes of getting in each other’s way but eventually Adrien managed to catch the small thing. Félix sat on his shoulder with a lashing tail and regarded the not-imp suspiciously.

“Huh,” the being said, looking at both of them. “Wasn’t expecting to be dealing with actual kittens. Interesting.”

Félix narrowed his eyes. He didn’t like this creature.


	27. Cat Sidhe Noir

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Origins with a twist - part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _Okay then!_ 👏 Not gonna lie, I have been looking forward to this chapter for a while now and even though it's _a lot_ of dialogue, I hope you'll like it! :3  
>  You can thank [Tempomental](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tempomental) for the chapter name since he encouraged me to use it :'D

“I’ll have you know that I take offense to being called an imp,” the small black cat stated and glared at Félix. He growled in return.

Adrien meanwhile had gotten over his shock for the most part and looked at the creature with curiosity.

“What are you then?” He asked, which drew the creature’s attention back to him.

“Not your business, Cat Sidhe. Who did you steal my ring from?”

Adrien blinked. He had not stolen anything!

“I just found it here!” He let go of the small being to sit up and frantically motion at the box on the table in the hope it would illustrate his honesty. There really was a ring in it, though it wasn’t black like Adrien had first glimpsed. It was actually a quite simple-looking silver band. He frowned.

“It’s not iron, is it?”

The creature threw him an offended look. “My ring is not made of something as ordinary as _iron!_ It’s a magic material, but nothing for _faeries_ to use.” He—at least Adrien assumed it was a ‘he’—crossed his tiny arms and threw both twins a sharp look. The message was clear: ‘Paws off the ring.’

“If not for the fair folk, then who else is it for that uses magic?” Félix inquired suspiciously from where he still sat on Adrien’s shoulder.

“Humans,” the creature said simply and Adrien felt his brother’s claws dig into his skin when he tensed.

“Magic is not meant for humans,” Adrien said. He thought about Marinette and how much he had tried to keep her away from magic in the past year.

The only instances he remembered magic to be used by humans from what his mother had taught him was on the rare occasions when a fae had been tricked by a human and was bound to them with their name. But then the human would use the fae’s magic, which still would not be their own. Their own magic was their soul and if they found a way to use that, they would instantly die. But even when they used a fae’s magic, there would be grave repercussions. That’s just how magic worked.

No, humans couldn’t use magic. They were only victims of it.

“Is your ring cursed?” Félix asked with an angry hiss, though that only seemed to offend the creature more.

“Fé, be nice.” Adrien said and then addressed the small being with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry about my brother. We’re very suspicious of the fair folk.”

“Smart kittens, but aren’t you Unseelie yourselves? I can smell it on you.”

Adrien looked away. “We don’t have much choice in that matter.”

The creature sighed. “Well, it’s practically _my_ Court anyway, so who am I to judge?”

Adrien was going to inquire about that, but then the ground shook again. This immediately brought his attention back to the attack that was currently going on. A _magic_ attack! He could worry about what the small cat creature was implying later.

“Do you know what’s going on out there? The Court wouldn’t risk this exposure.”

“This is why I’m here,” the creature said with an eye roll. “Or awake at any case. The one who got this ring is supposed to help stop it and since you’re not lying—yes, I can tell—the old man apparently lost his marbles and gave me to a halfling.”

“Which one of us?” Félix asked.

“Well, obviously not you. I don’t accept holders that eat human souls.”

Adrien could feel his brother tense again and plucked him off his shoulder to sit him down on his lap instead and pet him reassuringly. The last thing they needed now was for Félix to get angry and to accidentally offend this creature.

“How are you able to tell?” Adrien asked since even he, who knew Félix’s magic inside-out, had not noticed anything for months.

“I am the one who founded the Unseelie Court in the first place and who is responsible for Cat Sidhe. Your great goddess Danu? She’s my other half.”

Adrien was suddenly very glad that he had kept Félix from accidentally insulting the creature.

“You’re a _god_?!”

The tiny black cat smirked. “You may worship me now.”

Another small earthquake shook the ground, reminding Adrien at the crisis at hand.

“Okay, so I am supposed to use your ring and stop what’s going on out there?

The tiny god sighed. “Basically.” Then he turned to fix him with a warning glare. “I don’t trust the fair folk and halflings are no exception, but this city might fall if the Black Cat Miraculous won’t be used soon. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to find a new wielder.”

“I promise to help!” Adrien quickly said. His thoughts went to Marinette. Was she safe? By Danu, what if she wasn’t safe?! What if she was hurt in the attack?! He had to protect her!

“The Court will have my brother’s head if he walks out there and gets involved in this magic business!” Félix said with an angrily lashing tail. The tiny god just waved it off.

“The glamour of a god is superior to whatever glamour a fae can conjure. No one will notice a thing.” He narrowed his eyes to green slits then. “You will both have to swear on what is dearest to you that you won’t tell anyone, especially not the Court, about me. Do _not_ misuse my name and _you_ ,” he pointed at Adrien, “may _never_ misuse my Miraculous.”

A deal with a god seemed like a horrible idea, especially when the price was the thing dearest to them. But Marinette could be in danger and there was no time.

“Swear in return that you will not sell us out to the Court and not harm the ones close to us,” Félix said. Adrien breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god for his brother’s quick thinking or he would have agreed to the god’s terms without securing himself first.

“Yeah, yeah, I agree to that,” the god said dismissively.

“Alright, then I promise to agree to all your terms,” Adrien said.

“I promise too,” Félix said through gritted teeth, clearly uncomfortable with making a deal.

“Good. Name’s Plagg by the way. Since we’re in a bit of a situation right now, we’ll sort out the details later. I’ve never had a halfling as a holder before, so I don’t know what exactly will happen, but you should at the very least be able to use Cataclysm.”

“Cataclysm?” Adrien asked at the same time as Félix said.

“That doesn’t sound like something my brother should ever use.”

“It lets you destroy anything you touch,” Plagg supplied.

“I stand by my point,” Félix said, which made Adrien pluck him off his lap and put him down on the couch beside him.

“Fé, just shut up for a second.”

He stood up and took the box in his hand. “How does destroying something help?” He asked as he regarded the ring.

“The person who causes havoc is a normal human who got akumatised. An Akuma is corrupted magical power in form of a butterfly. Find the object the Akuma is hiding in and destroy that. The Ladybug can then capture and cleanse it.”

“The Ladybug?”

“She’s your partner and has the power of Creation. _Danu_ ’s power if you will.”

A human had Danu’s power?! Were these gods insane?!

“Alright,” Adrien said anyway “And I need the ring for it?”

“Yes, it lets you transform.”

“Transform? As in shapeshifting or do I get a costume?”

“The latter,” the god said, which prompted Félix to groan in frustration and hide his head under his paws. Adrien, meanwhile, saw the ring in a new light. Would he finally be able to live out his dreams of becoming like Sailor Moon?!

“The phrase is my name followed by ‘Claws Out’, but—”

“Plagg, Claws Out!” Adrien said without hesitation.

“I have not finished explaining!” The tiny god’s voice faded as he was sucked into the ring.

Magical terrorism aside, this was practically what he was _born_ for! All the hours of watching anime paid off as he now posed dramatically while the magic flew over him. In only seconds it was over.

“I wish I could add this to blackmail material,” Félix said from where he sat on the couch but Adrien didn’t pay him any mind. He was much too busy to look at his _superhero_ outfit!

“This is amazing!” He said in awe but then paused. His tail, his ears and even his claws and eyes—except for the green sclera, that was new—had not changed at all. He couldn’t go out like that! People would question it! Besides, Félix and he were the only Cat Sidhe in Paris, so the Court would immediately draw its conclusions.

“I can’t go out like _that!_ People will notice that something is off!”

 _“Don’t worry, kid. They won’t notice a thing.”_ Plagg’s voice suddenly said in his head, making Adrien jump.

“Are you sure?”

_“Don’t underestimate the glamour of a god. Now go!”_

Adrien didn’t hesitate another second and threw open the window.

“Adrien!” Félix yelled and he paused. There was a strange sense of déjà vu as he looked back at his brother who had shifted back to his human form to run to the window. As if he wanted to keep Adrien from escaping. Just like on Midsummer over a year ago. He winced when he mentally took a step back and thought about what Félix must be thinking right now.

“Don’t worry Fé, I’ll come back,” he said with a smile.

“Just…be careful.”

“Will be!”

With another grin, Adrien jumped out the window and landed on the wall around the mansion. This was new. He was used to sneaking out of his room and running over the Parisian rooftops, but he has never done so in his human form. Taken, this was not exactly his human form, but it was close enough to make the experience new and exciting.

The rush of magic that was so much more powerful than his own drew a grin on his face. It felt like he was wearing lightning, just with all the energy and none of the heat or pain. Such overflowing power! No wonder Plagg had been hesitant to give his ring to a fae who could tell exactly how extraordinary it really was.

 _“It was very rude to not let me finish,”_ Plagg said in his head and Adrien cringed as he scaled a roof.

“Sorry, I was just excited.”

_“I noticed. So, your name is Adrien?”_

“Yep,” he replied with a sigh.

_“Do you make a habit of just telling powerful gods your name?”_

“It’s not much of a secret,” Adrien said with a shrug and jumped over the gap between two roofs. He was slowly getting closer to where the golem was rampaging. “I also know your name, so this is only fair. Besides, I’m a model, so most of Paris knows who I am.”

_“Living dangerously, aren’t you, kid?”_

“You have no idea,” he muttered.

_“Anyway, about the Akuma.”_

“Right, you said something about corrupted magic power and butterflies?”

_“Akumas are corrupted magic butterflies sent out by a wielder of the Butterfly Miraculous who uses its power for evil. It’s supposed to make champions, but when it’s used for evil, it corrupts the mind of the humans who are touched by it and makes them act out all their violent and frustrated tendencies.”_

Adrien shuddered. “Let’s not make one of those butterflies touch my brother then, or Chloé will have a very bad day.”

Plagg ignored his comment. _“The butterflies possess an object that is connected to the negative emotion the person is feeling at the moment of being akumatised, so you have to find that object and destroy it.”_

“Sounds easy enough. What’s the catch?”

_“The catch?”_

“Magic always has a catch.”

_“Listen kid, I have never let a halfling use my Miraculous before so I really don’t know what will happen. The talking-in-your-head thing is new too.”_

“Oh, so that’s not normal?”

_“No. The Miraculous are made for humans and humans don’t have any magic in them beside their soul. When we transform, we put our magic into our holder, so they are not easily hurt by what they’re fighting. The basic attacks, like your Cataclysm, and the magic to transform are stored in the Miraculous itself so that the transformation will fall away after five minutes when you use it.”_

“So, the Miraculous acts like an anchor for the magic? That makes sense. Can’t hold magic in a human when their body isn’t built for it. Unless you use it _on_ them similar to shapeshifting, but that would be bad.”

_“Exactly, which makes the five minutes after activating a power very taxing on us. The earlier our holders detransform, the better we and they are off. If the transformation is held for too long too often after a power is used, it will have unintended side effects._

_“With you it’s different because you have your own magic too. Some space I would usually occupy in your body is therefore already taken and that means I have some overflowing magic left. Not enough to be corporal, but enough to at least be conscious. That’s why I can communicate with you right now. It also means you’re more vulnerable and have to partially rely on your own strength.”_

“So, when my power is—”

_“DON’T SAY IT! It’ll activate it! Oh, and look at your back. I know fae are tough, but I don’t want to fall down a ten-story building with you.”_

Adrien checked his back and found a silver baton.

“I have a weapon!” He squeed giddily.

 _“Before I forget: You can only use your power once, so use it wisely. And_ don’t _use it on humans._

“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on killing anyone,” Adrien muttered while discovering that the baton could extend. It was not like the epee he used for fencing, but hitting someone with it with brute force would probably still hurt.

“How long can it extend?” Adrien asked while giving the baton a few practice swings.

_“As long as you need it to be. Go ahead and try it out.”_

When Adrien held the baton over a rooftop’s edge, he willed it to extend all the way down to the street below. Nice! He could pole-vault across Paris this way. He let it shrink again to pull it into a horizontal position and let it extend to the rooftop on the other side of the street. He grinned. This was just like the banister of their second level, just with added difficulty and thrill.

“So, about my power,” Adrien said and stepped on the baton, making a few cautious steps to test out how secure it was before starting to walk faster. “You said I can destroy anything I touch and that involves living things too. Fé was right: It sounds like something I better shouldn’t use unless I’m in a life or death situation.”

_“If it isn’t absolutely necessary, then don’t use it. The five-minute timer counts for you too and I don’t know how my magic will affect yours if it’s in your body for too long.”_

“Alright, then I’ll try to cope without destroying things for now and play it safe.”

He looked down on the street far below and grinned.

“I’m starting to get the hang of this.”

His ears twitched as they caught a sound that was getting closer. A scream, but from where? At almost the last second, he looked up, seeing a person in red _falling out of the sky_. It was much too late to dodge so he was unable to do anything when the other person crashed into him. He braced himself for impact, but a string wound around them and stopped their fall one metre above the ground.

Then it clicked. Red suit and falling out of the sky? This must be the ladybug person Plagg had talked about! The one that was supposed to be his partner!

Adrien was about to give a witty remark when the very familiar smell of vanilla, cinnamon, roses and strawberry reached his nose. Bluebell eyes looked at him apologetically and a sweet voice he would have recognized anywhere said “I’m sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose,” while her lips stretched into an awkward, apologetic grin.

He stared. There was little else he could do when the new information clicked in his brain. He could feel Plagg’s magic flicker with shock as knowledge he should not possess settled in.

_Marinette?!_


	28. Magic and other Insanities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Origins with a twist - part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally we get to see Marinette with her Miraculous! Not gonna lie, I had a _blast_ writing this chapter! I rewatched the origins episodes more times than I like to admit and took notes on the things that seemed off to me, like the elephant in the room: everyone just accepting magic that easily! There would have been a lot more screaming and downward spirals of doom mentally if that would have happened to me. So look forward for some of those typical Marinette freakouts.
> 
> PS: Keep in mind that Adrien is probably pterodactyl screeching in his head for the entirety of this chapter :'D

For once, Marinette was looking forward to her first day of school since Adrien and Félix would finally be attending as well. Not even the possibility that Chloé could be in her class this year could dampen her mood. When the twins had not shown up, she had been content enough with the fact that Nino was in her class this year and that she had also found a new friend.

Then, after going to the library, things had started to go wrong.

The _last_ thing she had expected to happen that day was for a stone golem to run loose around Paris and a weird flying bugmouse to appear in her room, telling her she had to stop said rampaging magical thing.

Her day did _not_ go as planned _at all_ , but at least she had an objective now: save her crazy new friend from the golem and then maybe save Paris too if she could. She would just…ignore the magic part of the whole ordeal for now and focus on that not so simple task. Yeah, denial sounded like a good solution for the moment. Denial was easy. Everyone could do denial!

Tikki had said something about a partner and she just hoped that this other person would more capable than her. After all, she was just fifteen years old and had been granted magical powers. That was like in one of those anime she always watched with Adrien! She was not Hinamori Amu though, but Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Well, Marinette Dupain-Cheng clad in red magic spandex and armed with nothing but a yo-yo.

“What have I gotten myself into, Jacques?” She asked the pigeon as she stood on her balcony with the magic yo-yo in her hand. The bird let out a _coo_ and then went back to pecking at the cookie crumbs on the floor.

Saving Paris? Adrien would probably be thrilled! But no, life had given _Marinette Dupain-Cheng_ lemons in the form of a pair of magical earrings and she would sure as hell make lemonade out of that!

After taking another deep breath, she swung the yo-yo and then let it go, watching it sail over the Parisian rooftops.

_Magic yo-yo indeed_ , she thought as the string stretched without ever showing any sign of ending. When the yo-yo caught, she gave it an experimental tug and couldn’t help but scream when she was suddenly yanked off her feet and catapulted through the air.

_Oh god, I’m going to die!_ She thought just when she spotted a black figure below her. To her growing horror, she was heading directly towards said figure. She didn’t even have time for some nice last thoughts before she crashed into him.

It didn’t hurt as much as Marinette had expected it to and the yo-yo—deceptive little thing—had saved them by tying them up and letting them hang upside down over the street. How humiliating.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose,” she quickly said, praying that this other person wouldn’t call a lawyer on her for accidental almost-murder. Only then did she notice his peculiar green cat eyes.

_Oh, that must be my partner. What a great first impression I managed to make…_

She missed the shocked stare he threw her as she tried to find a way to get out of this tangled mess. Her not so trusty yo-yo apparently had a life of its own, since it unwound itself just as the thought crossed her mind.

_Ah, so it listens to what I want. Sort of at least…_

The two of them landed on the street much more gracefully than Marinette had thought possible.

“You’re my partner?” The boy asked and now that they were not tied up anymore Marinette took a moment to properly look at him. His costume seemed to be made out of the same material as hers, just completely in black and with much more details. Though two things were off: his ears and tail. They seemed to be made of fur. If she hadn’t known any better, she’d have said that they were real, but it was probably just part of the costume. So, that was the holder of the Black Cat miraculous Tikki had told her about.

When she got past analysing his outfit, she noticed the anxious tremble in his voice and his stiff posture. He seemed shocked and scared.

Oh, so they were both newbies. Fantastic.

Which _genius_ had come up with the idea to let two untrained teenagers save an entire city? If she ever found the person responsible, she’d have _words_ with them!

“I guess so. What’s your name? I’m Ma—” She said as she tugged at her yo-yo that was still caught on the baton. It came loose and as her luck would have it, smacked her new partner on the head.

“Madly clumsy. I’m so clumsy.”

_Just my luck._

“Don’t worry, the only spots I’m seeing so far are yours,” he joked and gave her a reassuring grin. “You can call me Chat Noir. You know, superheroes, secret identities and all.”

He winked at her but she could see that his posture was still tense. Maybe he was trying to be brave for her since one of them had to be.

At that moment there was a crashing sound from a few blocks away and Marinette watched on with horror as the Montparnasse tower crumbled in the distance. She felt her blood run cold. How many people were in this tower? Had they managed to evacuate in time?

She didn’t notice that her legs had given out under her until a set of black-clad arms caught her before she hit the ground.

“Don’t worry, Ma— _my lady_ , we have the powers of ancient gods on our side. I’m sure we can fix this.”

She felt herself nod numbly. This was serious. The most serious thing she had ever been involved in. It was life-and-death-levels of serious! She shook her head. There would be time to think about the logistics of magic later, because right now she had to make sure that there would _be_ a ‘later’!

Chat Noir seemed to think something along those lines too as his playful expression changed to one of determination.

“Let’s go and save Paris, my lady,” he said. “I can try to distract the villain if you need more time to figure out the ropes.”

He gave her yo-yo a pointed look. Not accusing, but rather accessing.

Marinette took a deep breath. There was no time to get used to anything, so she just had to work with what she had. Tikki had said that when she didn’t know what to do anymore, she should use _Lucky Charm_ , so she’d save that for when she was facing Ivan.

“I’m okay,” she said and swung her yo-yo in a circle.

 “Trust yourself,” she mumbled, repeating what Tikki had said earlier. Maybe if she said it out loud it would come true. Her yo-yo whizzed through the air, caught on something on a nearby roof and even though Marinette knew what to expect, she still screamed when she was suddenly pulled into the air.

She landed on the rooftop with shaking legs and Chat Noir close behind her.

“I’m okay, it’s just a little much,” she said in a high voice while trying her best not to panic.

“Don’t worry, I got your back,” he said with a genuine smile. “And I’ll be there to catch you if you fall again.”

She gave him a small grin.

“I wouldn’t exactly call what you did ‘catching’, but sure. And thank you.”

She watched from the top of the stadium how Chat Noir hit Ivan with his baton, which only made things worse, as her classmate’s monstrous form only grew because of it. How was she supposed to fight something that was almost as big as her bakery and had taken down the Montparnasse tower?!

Just because a magical ladybug had given her earrings and superpowers didn’t mean that she was a super _hero_. No, at the end of the day she was still Marinette Dupain-Cheng, who could not even keep her seat because a bully had taken it from her. Alya had said that all that was needed for evil to triumph was for good people to do nothing, but _this_ was not just some normal deed. This was staring her potential cause of death in the eye! She _wanted_ to save Ivan, but she was not willing to die trying.

“I can’t. I’m not going to be able to do it,” she said and covered her eyes in desperation. When she looked again, she saw Ivan throw a goal at Chat Noir that missed, bounced on the ground and was heading directly towards Alya. Her blood ran cold.

_Move, damn it! You have to do something!_

She couldn’t.

Luckily, Chat Noir had the same idea and _could_. He threw his baton which extended and let the goal bounce off just in time to save Alya. Marinette couldn’t even breathe a sigh of relief as Chat Noir, now weaponless, was caught in Ivan’s stone fist.

“What are you waiting for?” Alya yelled and Marinette snapped her attention back to her.

_For a miracle._

“The world is watching!”

That really did not help at all! She wasn’t exactly camera-shy, but right now she was responsible for all of Paris. Talk about pressure.

_Think positive!_ An inner voice said.

Well, _positive_ , might be a stretch, but she could think tactically at least. She had always been good at organisation and planning, be it an outfit, or a schedule for studying for tests. A fight against a supervillain had not been among those things yet, but hell, there was no one else right now! She had superpowers, she had her weapon and she still had an ace up her sleeve!

She squeezed the yo-yo in her hand, getting rid of the rest of her nervous jitters and ran to the edge of the stadium’s roof. Her yo-yo, as expected, did exactly what she wanted it to, catching Ivan’s legs as she skidded on the ground between them and eventually came to a halt.

“Animal cruelty? How shameful!” She said to make herself sound more confident than she actually was and pulled on the string. Her own strength surprised her as Ivan really toppled over and let go of Chat Noir. The poor guy fell into the other football goal and she didn’t lose a second to run over to him and check if he was okay.

“Sorry it took so long,” she said awkwardly.

“No worries, my lady. Let’s kick his rocky behind,” Chat Noir said but Marinette grabbed his tail to stop him, making him yelp.

“Wait! He gets bigger with every attack. We have to do something different,” she said thoughtfully while Chat held his tail protectively as if it had been violated. Wait, had he _felt_ that?

_Note to self: Don’t pull on his tail again._

“Hmm, does anything here need to be destroyed?”

“No?” Marinette said in confusion as she looked around.

“Okay, then my special power is no help. I can destroy anything I touch,” he said with a grin and a shrug. “How about you? What is your special power?”

“My kwami said that I can conjure an object that will help me win.”

“That sounds useful,” Chat Noir said while looking at Ivan who was in the process of getting up. “Think you can do that in less than five minutes?”

Marinette bit her lip. “I sure hope so. I don’t know what else would work.”

_Alright, here goes nothing._

“Lucky Charm!” She called and threw her yo-yo up just like Tikki had told her to. A suit fell down from the sky and into her hands. She looked at it like the universe was mocking her. Maybe the earrings were broken.

She looked at Ivan again. Tikki had said that the Akuma was hiding in an object, but he was entirely made out of stone.

“Where do you think the object is?” Chat Noir asked, apparently thinking the same thing.

“Well, there’s nothing on him so…wait, what about his fist? He hasn’t opened it for this entire battle. That’s it! It’s like with Matryoshka dolls. The object isn’t on him, it’s in his fist!”

“How are we supposed to get him to open his first then?” Chat Noir asked.

She looked at Ivan’s closed fist, then let her view sweep over Alya—who was filming the entire thing, _oh god_ —then the tab next to her and lastly the hose that ended coincidentally exactly where Chat Noir and she were standing. Marinette grinned. “With this.” She held up the Lucky Charm and connected it to the hose.

“Don’t resist, trust me,” she said as she wrapped her yo-yo around Chat Noir’s legs and then started to whirl him around in a circle.

“Are you _crazy_?” He yelped as the yo-yo released him and he flew right towards Ivan who caught him in his free fist. Marinette took one breath to steady herself.

_Trust yourself._

She had to believe that this plan would work.

“Catch me if you can!” She yelled as she jumped in Ivan’s direction—it was _crazy_ how high she could jump! Under different circumstances she would have panicked about that fact alone. Well, she would probably do plenty of panicking later if she survived this.

Just as she predicted, Ivan let go of what had been in his fist to catch her and the Lucky Charm.

“Alya, the tap!” Marinette shouted and her new friend jumped into action. The Lucky Charm suit quickly filled with water, forcing Ivan’s fist open and releasing Marinette.

She had done it! Her plan had worked and she had survived! There was no time for celebrations yet though, as Chat Noir was still trapped and the akumatised object was still not cleansed.

With a forceful stomp she broke what seemed to be a stone, revealing a black-purple butterfly. She watched as it harmlessly flew away, making Ivan turn back into himself.

“You were absolutely incredible, Pr—partner!” Chat Noir said and looked like he was about to hug her, but held himself back at the last second, instead scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment. “Sorry that I was not much of a help.”

“You were amazing too, Chat! I couldn’t have done it without you,” she said with a smile and tentatively stretched out her fist. He bumped it with his.

“ _Bien joué_ ,” he said with a grin.

Marinette jumped when there was a loud beeping in her ear, no doubt the countdown.

“Does the lady need an escort home?” Chat Noir asked with a bow, but she just shook her head.

“No thanks. Our identities must remain secret.”

“Superheroing one oh one,” he said with a wink. “How about you quickly zip home on your own then? Don’t want to reveal your identity on your first day, do you?”

He was right. Now that the battle was over and the adrenaline started to leave her system, she started shivering. She needed to get home fast before she transformed back or worse: had a breakdown in public.

Her view swivelled to Ivan, who had not moved from the spot and looked disheartened. A gentle hand took the note out of her hand.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this. The city is saved, so now it’s time for you to get to safety too.”

“Okay,” she said quietly and could feel the shiver in her voice. Slowly reality was catching up to her: magic, monsters, superpowers. All that new information was kept behind a dam that threatened to break any second.

She watched Chat Noir walk over to Ivan and turned to leave, only to come face to face with an overly excited Alya.

“Uncanny, amazing, spectacular!” She apparently was in full-on reporter mode. “Will you be protecting Paris from now on? How did you get your powers? Did you get stung by a radioactive ladybug?”

_No, Alya, I’m not Spiderman. Can ladybugs even sting people?_ Marinette’s mind held fast on that irrelevant question as she turned around again. She could not deal with this right now. She was on a timer and she desperately needed to scream into a pillow!

“I’ve got a ton of questions, Miss…?”

Oh god, a name! She needed a superhero name like Chat Noir, but she had no time to think of anything overly clever. Therefore, she turned around, scratching together the last bit of confidence she had left while striking a typical hero pose.

“Ladybug. Call me Ladybug,” she said while screaming internally. And then she _ran_. She ran and zipped the hell out of there!

Now she was glad that her yo-yo listened to what she wanted it to do, because she didn’t have anything left for logistics in her brain. She had to concentrate everything on keeping it together while she flew above the streets of Paris— _!!!_ —in record speeds.

When she finally dropped down into her room, making the transformation and therefore red suit dissolve, she grabbed the giant cat pillow Adrien had gotten her two months ago and screamed.

This was all too much and way too crazy. Magic? It belonged in fiction! And so did superheroes and monsters and basically everything that had happened today! Nothing made sense anymore.

“Marinette?” A tiny voice asked and Marinette jumped. Oh, right. She had forgotten about that tiny detail.

“Please tell me you’re not some devil-creature from another universe that is going to steal my soul!” She screeched. When the fantasy genre had taught her one thing, then it was that overly cute, magically powerful beings should be met with wariness. And Tikki had tricked her already earlier by letting her say the transformation phrase without telling her it was a transformation phrase. Wariness was probably a good course of action.

Tikki blinked.

“No! Nothing like that! I’m here to help you!”

“Then explain how!” Even though she was probably too deep in her panic to accept rationality at that moment.

“I want to stop the person that misuses the Butterfly miraculous and you want to live in peace. Working together benefits us both! I’ll help you to cope with the knowledge of magic and how it works too.”

“But I’m just a normal teenager! I can’t possibly save Paris over and over again if more of those Akumas show up.”

“But you did it today! You can do it again, you just have to believe in yourself!”

Marinette sighed. This was too much at once.

“Just…let me scream into my pillow for at least another ten minutes please?”

“If that makes you feel better then go ahead,” the tiny goddess said and settled down on the shelf over her bed.

And so, the screaming continued.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I made a Puella Magi Madoka Magica reference. Sue me :V
> 
> Also yes, Chat didn't use Cataclysm. That was very much on purpose :3


	29. The Calm Before the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Origins with a twist - part 4

Félix had followed the battle on TV. They were just starting to show some footage taken from a phone when Adrien came back barrelling through the window and faceplanting on the floor. Odd, he was usually more graceful than that. Did that suit mess with his balance?

“She threw me at a stone golem!” Adrien screeched after a mumbled ‘Claws In’, making Félix blink. There was no question as to who the ‘she’ was, as the news had already talked about a Ladybug hero. It took a second for the anger to register in his system.

“She did _what?!_ ” Félix exclaimed.

“S-she, she fell on top of me a-and, she was so confused and scared. And she was so amazing. AND SHE THREW ME AT A STONE GOLEM!”

Plagg snickered. “Looks like she broke the kitten.”

“Adrien, take a deep breath and then try again,” Félix said, as he had trouble making any sense of Adrien’s stammering. Well, except for the ‘she threw me at a stone golem’ part, that had been hard to miss. Adrien did as instructed: took a deep breath and then started screeching again. This time, though, Félix understood him loud and clear.

“Marinette threw me at a stone golem!”

Due to living with the fair folk’s craziness, there were few sentences Félix thought he would never hear. This was one of them.

“Marinette?” He asked. Surely his brother was confusing something.

“YES! S-she has magic a-and this should not happen. Plagg, why did that happen?!”

Things finally clicked in Félix’s head. The Ladybug Miraculous had somehow fallen into Marinette’s hands, which meant that she now wielded the power of the ancient goddess that had created the fair folk. Fate had a cruel sense of humour.

“I’m more concerned about the fact that you noticed it was her,” Plagg said thoughtfully. “Normally the glamour protects the wielders from recognizing each other, even if they know the other person outside of being transformed.”

“You said that you have no idea what will be different when a halfling is using your Miraculous. Could that be the reason?” Adrien said, his voice now carefully calm, which meant that he was close to an even bigger breakdown.

“Possibly. Sorry kid, I didn’t think this would happen.”

Then Plagg paused and narrowed his eyes. “You haven’t charmed her, have you?”

Adrien looked appalled. “Of course not! I would never hurt her and—”

“What about the lucky charm? You enchanted it with good luck, didn’t you?” Félix pointed out. He knew Adrien carried his lucky charm around everywhere and judging by how much Adrien meant to her, he could only assume that it would be the same for Marinette.

Plagg groaned and buried his face in his paws. “This is why I don’t deal with the fair folk,” he muttered in exasperation.

“I-is that the reason?” Adrien asked, shuffling anxiously on the spot.

“Yeah. When you charmed that thing, then it has traces of your magic. You subconsciously reached out and recognized it while it mingled with the magic of the suit. And since you connect that charm with this Marinette girl, you were able to recognize the rest as well. That wouldn’t work for anyone else because the Ladybug’s glamour is too strong, but your Miraculous is its equal in power, so you could breach that gap.”

“This is bad,” Félix said as he thought of all the consequences this entire situation could bring. “Now humans know that magic exists, which is practically an invitation for the Folk to play their mischief with everyone since it would just be written off as Akuma weirdness.”

Adrien visibly paled. “How are we supposed to keep Marinette safe _now_?! We would have to keep an eye on her 24/7!”

“Hey, calm down kitten! She now has the goddess that created the fae in the first place on her side. Tikki won’t let anything happen to her chosen, especially since we had trouble with the fair folk in the past already. Your girlfriend is as safe as she can get.”

Adrien made a noise that sounded like a dying whale. “G-girlfriend?! M-Marinette is _n-not_ my g-girlfriend!” He stammered while blushing as red as his not-girlfriend’s new magical suit. Judging from the silent snicker, Plagg seemed to find that as amusing as Félix did.

“It’s reassuring that at least Marinette is safe, but what about other people?” Félix pointed out.

Plagg shrugged. “We can’t help that. Let’s just hope that the Court recognizes Ladybug as Danu and acts accordingly.”

Félix heard the sound of something falling behind him and turned around to see that it was Adrien who had slumped on the ground. The panic was written clearly on his face.

“But _Marinette_ is Ladybug! If the Court approaches her, she will have no idea what to do and then she’ll know of the fair folk and—”

“Oh, for Camembert’s sake, calm down!” Plagg said. “Tikki has lost a chosen to the fae in the past and she’s paranoid about it happening again. She’ll do _everything_ she can to keep Marinette from finding out about the fair folk. And since we are talking about the goddess of creation here, _everything_ _she can do_ involves quite a lot.” The tiny god massaged his temples. “You kittens are giving me a headache and I’ve only been awake for a few hours.”

Félix was not knowledgeable about the needs of tiny floating gods of destruction, but he was familiar with headaches. Especially those caused by Adrien’s panicking.

“Are you going to live here now?” He asked in an attempt to move the conversation to a more harmless topic. Plagg perked up.

“Well, I _was_ going to try and find a human wielder, but seeing how you two already have a connection with the Ladybug’s chosen, keeping this arrangement might be for the best.”

A smart choice. Taking the ability to protect Marinette away from Adrien would be _fatal_ for everyone involved. And that didn’t even touch on his jealousy if someone else would become her partner.

“Anyway, I’m starving! Do you have anything to eat?”

“You mean except our remote control and various other objects in this room?” Félix asked, though the god just grinned at him unapologetically.

“The price for being in my glorious presence and using my powers is Camembert. As much as you can get.”

“Camembert cheese? You mean on a sandwich?” Adrien asked.

“No, Camembert by itself is enough!”

“And that’s why you shouldn’t make deals with tiny gods, Adrien,” Félix deadpanned though he also was relieved. He had expected that the power of destruction would come at a higher price when he was used to fae deals, which usually involved things like firstborn children. Camembert cheese though? They could manage that.

Félix stretched, the morning breeze brushing through his fur and the air being pleasantly warm for September. He had figured that the only way to ensure that they would not get caught by Nathalie would be to sneak out earlier than she expected them to. Well, it might not be the _only_ way, but at least it was the least complicated one.

“You two are such strange kittens,” Plagg said as he floated beside them. Up on the rooftops he apparently wasn’t worried about anyone seeing him. “If you’re gonna sneak out, then why would you go to _school_ of all places? Just sitting in place all day and listening to some boring lectures doesn’t seem very fey to me. What about pranks and hijinks?”

Félix rolled his eyes. “If I wouldn’t know any better, I would say you’re disappointed.”

Plagg snorted. “On the contrary. I am pleasantly surprised. It’s been a very long time since I met halflings that were this connected to their human roots.”

“I hope that’s a good thing?” Adrien asked a little anxiously. He seemed very distracted ever since the news about the stone beings had come on the previous day. Ladybug, and that meant _Marinette_ , had made a mistake. One couldn’t really expect her to be perfect on her first day out, especially since she was dealing with something as unpredictable as magic. He knew his friend, though, and therefore he was certain that she would beat herself up for it.

Adrien, in his usual manner, had started to blame himself. He had known about the capturing the Akuma part but he had forgotten it at the time, too awed by her skills and especially too focused on protecting and reassuring her to the best of his ability.

“Oh, yes, it’s very good. For a fae, that is,” Plagg said and gave them a very mischievous grin. “My holders are usually marked by their selflessness, so this is quite hilarious.”

“Right, because faeries are selfish creatures,” Adrien muttered. Even though Plagg had just complimented him in his own twisted way, his brother looked insulted.

They jumped over another gap between roofs and Félix took a moment to pause and look down. There was a stone creature in about every tenth street and they just got more numerous the closer one got to the Eiffel tower. It was no minor magic that was at work here, but in comparison to what he had seen in the _sídhe_ back on Samhain…this was basically nothing. A curse to be made out of stone and a twisted mind? For the fair folk that was everyday business. Those were _pranks_.

_Fun and games._

Félix shuddered at the unpleasant images this train of thought dug out.

So far the Butterfly Miraculous’s magic didn’t seem lethal, but they couldn’t rely on it to stay that way. Once they defeated these creatures—Félix had no doubt that they would—what would come next? How long would it be until something more dangerous showed up? How long would it take for his nightmares to actually come true?

He shook his head and caught up to Adrien. Dwelling on it was no use at the moment. He had to focus on one thing after another. School came first. The fight would find them sooner or later anyway, so he should use the calm before the storm to be productive.

“You know, it’s odd for my ring to be trapped in a pocket dimension. Since I never had a shapeshifter as a holder the situation has never come up. It’s an interesting new experience,” Plagg said.

“I’m just glad it worked. Carrying around things as a cat is not easy, especially not something as small as a ring,” Adrien said with a sigh. “When we were kittens and still learning how to shapeshift properly, we kept losing our clothes. Luckily, we got the hang of how pocket dimensions worked when we were eight, so that we could store our clothes and other things we had on us in there while we were shifted.”

“Which is still rather late for a fae. Most learn it when they’re one year old,” Félix added.

“Meh, you’re halflings, so your magic isn’t as strong. Eight years is still a good time frame in your case,” Plagg said.

 Adrien suddenly stopped on the edge of a roof. In front of them was the school, but his view shifted to the other side of the street: the bakery.

“Don’t even think about it,” Félix said before Adrien could do something stupid.

“She’s probably blaming herself,” Adrien said, not taking his worried glance off the rooftop balcony.

“You care a lot about this human girl, don’t you?”

Plagg’s voice was neither teasing nor judging, which was odd since he had basically only done both of those two things so far. Adrien’s tail lashed back and forth nervously.

“I do,” he eventually replied shyly.

“That’s good. Since you’re gonna be partners you should be able to get along with her. You’re lucky that your girlfriend got the Miraculous.”

Adrien made a noise as if someone had stepped on his tail. “I already told you that she’s not my g-girlfriend!” He argued and Félix was sure that his brother was blushing underneath the fur.

“Yet,” Félix coughed, which made Plagg snicker. Adrien hissed at him.

“Marinette and I are just friends,” he insisted. “Now come on! We’re gonna be late for class.”

With these words Adrien jumped to the next roof, leaving Félix and Plagg behind.

“Denial?” The tiny cat god asked, making Félix sigh.

“You have no idea how deep.”

Since they had heard Chloé’s voice from the courtyard and since Félix was pretty sure he had seen their father’s car close to the school, they decided to _not_ go through the front entrance. Instead, they climbed through an open window in an empty classroom where they shifted back.

“We made it!” Adrien cheered quietly and was practically vibrating with excitement. Félix was not sure if that was an improvement to the distracted moping from before.

“I still don’t get why you’re this thrilled about school,” Plagg grumbled as he hid in Adrien’s shirt.

“Let’s get out of this classroom before anyone asks what we’re doing in here,” Félix said and purposefully stepped outside into the mostly empty hallway. Being early had the clear advantage that they were not crowded by a group of avid fans of Adrien—or on rare occasion even fans of Félix. This made their short trip to the principal’s office much easier than it otherwise would have been.

After politely knocking, the two entered.

“Good morning, Monsieur. We’re here to pick up our timetables,” Félix stated while trying to look as polite as possible. The man in front of them still looked as if he’d seen a ghost.

“Of course, of course,” he said and started rummaging through his desk drawers. Félix tsked. How unorganised. He should have been expecting them.

“You’re not really being subtle, are you?” Adrien asked curiously as he looked around. And he was right. For a faerie owl to have pictures of owls everywhere in his office was absolutely not subtle at all.

“I…erm,” Monsieur Damocles said, drops sweat starting to collect on his forehead. It was obvious that the only Aos Sidhe he was used to talking to was Chloé.

“Adrien, stop being a hypocrite,” Félix therefore said to put the man at ease. “Half of your wardrobe consists of cat-themed clothes.”

“You don’t have to tell him that,” Adrien hissed as an embarrassed blush overtook his face.

It took at least five more minutes of searching until both of them finally had their timetables. Said five minutes were spent in a tense silence. Since none of them seemed to break it any time soon, Félix chose to take pity on the poor Duphon principal.

“We are much more gracious when it comes to humans than Chloé is, so you won’t have to worry about us causing any trouble.”

Monsieur Damocles looked like he had just been granted a boon, which was the only sign of gratitude they would get. The fair folk did not say ‘thank you’.

 

By the time they stepped back out of the principal’s office, the school had already filled with students. There were so many people their age everywhere.

He immediately noticed a group of students in the corner of the courtyard that seemed to be quite vocal. A dispute perhaps? A question that answered itself as he also recognized Chloé as part of the group. _Of course,_ it was a dispute. What interested him far more were the traces of magic he picked up from said group. Instead of just two sets of magic from Chloé and Sabrina, he picked up four.

Félix didn’t have time to tell Adrien of this discovery, as his brother decided to be an idiot and draw attention to himself at the same moment that a girl with glasses stormed off.

“Hey Chloé,” his idiot brother said from up on the second level, which was the exact moment when Félix decided that bailing was a good option.

“You deal with her. I’m out of here,” he hissed in Adrien’s ear and then walked over to the room that he identified as their classroom. If Adrien wanted to deal with Chloé this early in the morning, then that was his problem. Félix would not risk a headache just yet.

The classroom was empty except for one person in the front row. Luckily, it was a familiar face, so Félix sat down on the empty seat next to him.

“Good morning, Nino,” he said as soon as the bespectacled boy had taken off his headphones.

“Morning, dude! I see you finally made it,” he offered Félix a fist bump that was hesitantly returned. There was no one there to watch it after all. “Chloé will give you hell for sitting in Adrien’s seat.”

“Ah, so this is the seat all the drama was about,” Félix said. Apart from it being in the front row, he did not see anything particularly special about it.

“I mean, the real drama yesterday was the monster attack. Poor Ivan, man.”

“Is there a seat that is not taken yet?” Félix asked to deviate from the topic. The last thing he wanted to talk about was magic.

“There’s one next to Nathaniel in the last row and one next to Ivan, though I assume you wouldn’t want to sit next to him.”

There was a free seat in the last row? Perfect. From there he could watch everyone in the class without drawing suspicion and especially keep an eye on Chloé.

“I’ll move to the last row before Adrien comes, then. The last thing I need is for Chloé to talk to me.”

Nino snorted. “I feel that, dude.”

“Adrien will most likely make a fool out of himself when he will try to _introduce_ himself to Marinette later. Pay close attention, since we will not let him live it down,” Félix said.

“Gotcha, dude! This will be painful to watch.”

When Félix heard other students approaching the classroom, he got up again. “This is my cue to retreat.”

“Later, dude,” Nino said and put his headphones back on. Meanwhile, Félix walked to the back of the class and sat down on the seat Nino had pointed out. He watched as the classroom slowly filled with students. The first to arrive was a red-haired boy that sat down next to him and shyly introduced himself as Nathaniel. Félix was pleased to note that he immediately started sketching comics and kept quiet, which meant he would not bother him. He very much preferred the quiet types.

Among the students of the class were the two other fae he had sensed earlier. Two girls: a very small one with pink hair and a very quiet girl with goth clothes and red eyes. Red eyes? Was she even wearing a glamour? It was a miracle she had not been found out yet.

When there were many excited squeals outside and he caught his brother’s name being called from various teenage girls, he knew that the drama was about to unfold. Félix learned back with a sigh.

“This is your seat, Adrikins. I saved it for you. Right in front of me,” Chloé said as if the seat would be a king’s throne.

“ _Thank you_ , Chloé,” Adrien said, putting emphasis on the words of gratitude. Félix had to hold back a snicker and he could see that the short, pink-haired girl also tried to hide a grin. Chloé, meanwhile, looked like she had trouble to cover up that she was internally fuming. His brother was surprisingly good at being passive-aggressive.

As expected, Chloé didn’t let that well-hidden insult go by without retribution. Félix watched with a darkening gaze as she spit out her gum and ordered Sabrina to stick it on the seat of the other front row. Adrien noticed too.

“Hey! What’s that all about?!”

_Careful, Adrien. Control your anger._

“The brats that sat here yesterday need a little attitude adjustment. I’m just commanding a bit of _respect_ , that’s all.”

“You think that’s really necessary?”

“You’ve got a lot to learn about school culture, Adrikins. Watch the master,” Chloé said as she sat back down while Adrien tried his best to get the gum off the seat. Félix’s ears twitched under the glamour as he heard a familiar voice from outside.

_Marinette!_

She was talking to another girl—probably that Alya person she had told them about—and discussing superheroes of all things.

_By Danu, why can’t either of you two be subtle!?_

Félix made a mental countdown to how long it would take for the two girls to arrive and he quickly realised that Adrien wouldn’t get the gum off in time. The most frustrating thing was to not be able to do anything when an angry voice suddenly demanded: “Hey! What do you think _you’re_ doing?”

**Author's Note:**

> Tell me what you think! Comments always make my day! <3
> 
> If you want to see or read more from me, then you can visit my deviantArt page and my Tumblr!  
> https://lilafly.deviantart.com/  
> https://lilaflyy.tumblr.com/


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